P7 


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THE  PRINCE  OF  INDIA 

OB 

WHY  CONSTANTINOPLE  FELL 


BY 

LEW.  WALLACE 

AUTHOR  OF  "  BEN-BUR  "  "  THE  BOYHOOD  OF  CHRIST  " 
"  THE   FAIR   GOD  "    ETC.,  «TC. 

Rise,  too,  ye  Skates  and  Shadows  of  the  Past 

Rise  from  your  long-forgotten  graves  at  last 

Let  us  behold  your  faces,  let  us  hear 

The  words  you  uttered  in  those  days  of  fear 

Revisit  your  familiar  haunts  again 

The  scenes  of  triumph,  and  the  scenes  of  pain 

And  leave  the  footprints  of  your  bleeding  feet 

Once  more  upon  the  pavement  of  the  street 

LONGFELLOW 

VOL.  I. 


NEW    YORK   AND    LONDON 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 


THE  PRINCE  OF  INDIA.    VOL.  I 


Copyright,  1893,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Copyright,  1921.  by  Henry  L.  Wallace 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

K-X 


TO 

MY  FATHER 

DAVID   WALLACE 

He  loved  literature  for  the  pleasures  it  brought  him ;  and  could 
I  have  had  his  counsel  while  composing  this  work,  the  critics 
would  not  be  so  terrible  to  me  now  that  it  is  about  going  to  press 

THE  AUTHOR 

CsAwroBnsvit.LK,  Inn. 

May  SO,  1893 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  I 

THE  EAETH  AND  THE  SEA  ARE  ALWAYS  GIVING  UP 
THEIR  SECRETS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.    THE  NAMELESS  BAT 3 

II.    THE  MIDNIGHT  LANDING 10 

III.    THE  HIDDEN  TREASURE 18 


BOOK  II 

THE  PRINCE  OP  INDIA 

I.     A  MESSENGER  FROM  CIPANGO 35 

II.    THE  PILGRIM  AT  EL  KATIF 46 

III.  THE  YELLOW  AIR 52 

IV.  EL  ZARIBAH 60 

V.    THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CARAVAN 78 

VI.    THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  EMIR 88 

VII.    AT  THE  KAABA 95 

VIII.    THI  ARRIVAL  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE. .           ....  106 


VI 
CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX.    THE  PRINCE  AT  HOME i 115 

X.    THE  ROSE  OF  SPRING  . .  123 


BOOK   III 

THE  PRINCESS  IRENE 

I.    MORNING  ON  THE  BOSPHORUS 135 

II.     THE  PRINCESS  IRENJ: 139 

III.  THE  HOMERIC  PALACE 149 

IV.  THE  RUSSIAN  MONK 158 

V.      A  VOICE  FROM  THE  CLOISTER 164 

VI.    WHAT  DO  THE  STAKS  SAY  ? 175 

VII.  THE  PRINCE  OF  INDIA  MEETS  CONSTANTINE.  .  183 

VIII.     RACING  WITH  A  STORM 195 

IX.     IN  THE  WHITE  CASTLE 206 

X.     THE  ARABIAN  STORY-TELLER 220 

XI.    THE  TURQUOISE  RING 239 

XII.     THE  RING  RETURNS 252 

XIII.  MAHOMMED  HEARS  FROM  THE  STARS 259 

XIV.  DREAMS  AND  VISIONS 270 

XV.     DEPARTURE  FROM  THE  WHITE  CASTLE 288 

XVI.     AN  EMBASSY  TO  THE  PRINCESS  IRENJ: 295 

XVII.    THE  EMPEROR'S  WOOING 301 

XVIII.    THE  SINGING  SHEIK 311 

XIX.    Two  TURKISH  TALES 320 

XX.     MAHOMMED  DREAMS.  .  343 


vii 


BOOK  IV 

THE  PALACE  OF  BLACHERNE 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I.    THE  PALACE  OF  BLACHERNE 365 

II.    THE  AUDIENCE 379 

III.  THE  NEW  FAITH  PROCLAIMED 391 

IV.  THE  PANNYCHIDES 402 

V.    A  PLAGUE  OF  CRIME 426 

VI.    A  BYZANTINE  GENTLEMAN  OF  THE  PERIOD 439 

VII.    A  BYZANTINE  HERETIC 452 

VHI.    THE  ACADEMY  OF  EPICURUS 468 

IX.    A  FISHERMAN'S  FETE 481 

X.  THE  HAMARI  . .                                               ...  498 


BOOK  I 

THE  EARTH  AND  THE  SEA  ARE  ALWAYS  GIVING  UP 
THEIR  SECRETS 


THE  PKINCE  OF  INDIA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  NAMELESS   BAT 

IN  the  noon  of  a  September  day  in  the  year  of  our 
dear  Lord  1395,  a  merchant  vessel  nodded  sleepily 
upon  the  gentle  swells  of  warm  water  flowing  in  upon 
the  Syrian  coast.  A  modern  seafarer,  looking  from 
the  deck  of  one  of  the  Messagerie  steamers  now  ply- 
ing the  same  line  of  trade,  would  regard  her  curi- 
ously, thankful  to  the  calm  which  held  her  while  he 
slaked  his  wonder,  yet  more  thankful  that  he  was 
not  of  her  passage. 

She  could  not  have  exceeded  a  hundred  tons  bur- 
then. At  the  bow  and  stern  she  was  decked,  and 
those  quarters  were  fairly  raised.  Amidship  she 
was  low  and  open,  and  pierced  for  twenty  oars,  ten 
to  a  side,  all  swaying  listlessly  from  the  narrow  ports 
in  which  they  were  hung.  Sometimes  they  knocked 
against  each  other.  One  sail,  square  and  of  a  dingy 
white,  drooped  from  a  broad  yard-arm,  which  was 
itself  tilted,  and  now  and  then  creaked  against  the 
yellow  mast  complainingly,  unmindful  of  the  simple 
tackle  designed  to  keep  it  in  control.  A  watchman 
crouched  in  the  meagre  shade  of  a  fan-like  structure 
overhanging  the  bow  deck.  The  roofing  and  the 
floor,  where  exposed,  were  clean,  even  bright ;  in  all 


other  parts  subject  to  the  weather  and  the  wash  there 
was  only  the  blackness  of  pitch.  The  steersman  sat 
on  a  bench  at  the  stern.  Occasionally,  from  force  of 
habit,  he  rested  a  hand  upon  the  rudder-oar  to  be 
sure  it  was  yet  in  reach.  With  exception  of  the  two, 
the  lookout  and  the  steersman,  all  on  board,  officers, 
oarsmen,  and  sailors,  were  asleep — such  confidence 
could  a  Mediterranean  calm  inspire  in  those  accus- 
tomed to  life  on  the  beautiful  sea.  As  if  Neptune 
never  became  angry  there,  and  blowing  his  conch, 
and  smiting  with  his  trident,  splashed  the  sky  with 
the  yeast  of  waves!  However,  in  1395  Neptune  had 
disappeared ;  like  the  great  god  Pan,  he  was  dead. 

The  next  remarkable  thing  about  the  ship  was  the 
absence  of  the  signs  of  business  usual  with  mer- 
chantmen. There  were  no  barrels,  boxes,  bales,  or 
packages  visible.  Nothing  indicated  a  cargo.  In  her 
deepest  undulations  the  water-line  was  not  once  sub- 
merged. The  leather  shields  of  the  oar-ports  were 
high  and  dry.  Possibly  she  had  passengers  aboard. 
Ah,  yes!  There  under  the  awning,  stretched  half- 
way across  the  deck  dominated  by  the  steersman,  was 
a  group  of  persons  all  unlike  seamen.  Pausing  to 
note  them,  we  may  find  the  motive  of  the  voyage. 

Four  men  composed  the  group.  One  was  lying 
upon  a  pallet,  asleep  yet  restless.  A  black  velvet  cap 
had  slipped  from  his  head,  giving  freedom  to  thick 
black  hair  tinged  with  white.  Starting  from  the 
temples,  a  beard  with  scarce  a  suggestion  of  gray 
swept  in  dark  waves  upon  the  neck  and  throat,  and 
even  invaded  the  pillow.  Between  the  hair  and  beard 
there  was  a  narrow  margin  of  sallow  flesh  for  features 
somewhat  crowded  by  knots  of  wrinkle.  His  body 
was  wrapped  in  a  loose  woollen  gown  of  brownish- 
black.  A  hand,  apparently  all  bone,  rested  upon  the 


breast,  clutching  a  fold  of  the  gown.  The  feet 
twitched  nervously  in  the  loosened  thongs  of  old- 
fashioned  sandals.  Glancing  at  the  others  of  the 
group,  it  was  plain  this  sleeper  was  master  and  they 
his  slaves.  Two  of  them  were  stretched  on  the  bare 
boards  at  the  lower  end  of  the  pallet,  and  they  were 
white.  The  third  was  a  son  of  Ethiopia  of  unmixed 
blood  and  gigantic  frame.  He  sat  at  the  left  of  the 
couch,  cross-legged,  and,  like  the  rest,  was  in  a  doze  ; 
now  and  then,  however,  he  raised  his  head,  and,  with- 
out fully  opening  his  eyes,  shook  a  fan  of  peacock 
feathers  from  head  to  foot  over  the  recumbent  fig- 
ure. The  two  whites  were  clad  in  gowns  of  coarse 
linen  belted  to  their  waists ;  while,  saving  a  cincture 
around  his  loins,  the  negro  was  naked. 

There  is  often  much  personal  revelation  to  be 
gleaned  from  the  properties  a  man  carries  with  him 
from  home.  Applying  the  rule  here,  by  the  pallet 
there  was  a  walking-stick  of  unusual  length,  and 
severely  hand- worn  a  little  above  the  middle.  In 
emergency  it  might  have  been  used  as  a  weapon. 
Three  bundles  loosely  wrapped  had  been  cast  against 
a  timber  of  the  ship ;  presumably  they  contained  the 
plunder  of  the  slaves  reduced  to  the  minimum  allow- 
ance of  travel.  But  the  most  noticeable  item  was  a 
leather  roll  of  very  ancient  appearance,  held  by  a 
number  of  broad  straps  deeply  stamped  and  secured 
by  buckles  of  a  metal  blackened  like  neglected  sil- 
ver. 

The  attention  of  a  close  observer  would  have  been 
attracted  to  this  parcel,  not  so  much  by  its  antique 
showing,  as  by  the  grip  with  which  its  owner  clung- 
to  it  with  his  right  hand.  Even  in  sleep  he  held  it 
of  infinite  consequence.  It  could  not  have  contained 
coin  or  any  bulky  matter.  Possibly  the  man  was  on 


some  special  commission,  with  his  credentials  in  the 
old  roll.  Ay,  who  was  he  ? 

Thus  started,  the  observer  would  have  bent  him- 
self to  study  of  the  face ;  and  immediately  something 
would  have  suggested  that  while  the  stranger  was 
of  this  period  of  the  world  he  did  not  belong  to  it. 
Such  were  the  magicians  of  the  story-loving  Al- 
Raschid.  Or  he  was  of  the  type  Rabbinical  that  sat 
with  Caiphas  in  judgment  upon  the  gentle  Nazarene. 
Only  the  centuries  could  have  evolved  the  appari- 
tion. Who  was  he  ? 

In  the  course  of  half  an  hour  the  man  stirred, 
raised  his  head,  looked  hurriedly  at  his  attendants, 
then  at  the  parts  of  the  ship  in  view,  then  at  the 
steersman  still  dozing  by  the  rudder;  then  he  sat 
up,  and  brought  the  roll  to  his  lap,  whereat  the  rigoV 
of  his  expression  relaxed.  The  parcel  was  safe !  And 
the  conditions  about  him  were  as  they  should  be ! 

He  next  set  about  undoing  the  buckles  of  his 
treasure.  The  long  fingers  were  expert;  but  just 
when  the  roll  was  ready  to  open  he  lifted  his  face, 
and  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  section  of  blue  expanse 
outside  the  edge  of  the  awning,  and  dropped  into 
thought.  And  straightway  it  was  settled  that  he  was 
not  a  diplomatist  or  a  statesman  or  a  man  of  busi- 
ness of  any  kind.  The  reflection  which  occupied  him 
had  nothing  to  do  with  intrigues  or  statecraft;  its 
centre  was  in  his  heart  as  the  look  proved.  So,  in 
tender  moods,  a  father  gazes  upon  his  child,  a  hus- 
band at  the  beloved  wife,  restfully,  lovingly. 

And  that  moment  the  observer,  continuing  his 
study,  would  have  forgotten  the  parcel,  the  white 
slaves,  the  gigantic  negro,  the  self-willed  hair  and 
beard  of  pride — the  face  alone  would  have  held  him. 
The  countenance  of  the  Sphinx  has  no  beauty  now ; 


and  standing  before  it,  we  feel  no  stir  of  the  admira- 
tion always  a  certificate  that  what  we  are  behold- 
ing is  charming  out  of  the  common  lines;  yet  we 
are  drawn  to  it  irresistibly,  and  by  a  wish  vague, 
foolish — so  foolish  we  would  hesitate  long  before 
putting  it  in  words  to  be  heard  by  our  best  lover — a 
wish  that  the  monster  would  tell  us  all  about  itself. 
The  feeling  awakened  by  the  face  of  the  traveller 
would  have  been  similar,  for  it  was  distinctly  Israel- 
itish,  with  exaggerated  eyes  set  deeply  in  cavernous 
hollows — a  mobile  mask,  in  fact,  concealing  a  life  in 
some  way  unlike  other  lives.  Unlike  ?  That  was 
the  very  attraction.  If  the  man  would  only  speak, 
what  a  tale  he  could  unfold ! 

But  he  did  not  speak.  Indeed,  he  seemed  to  have 
regarded  speech  a  weakness  to  be  fortified  against. 
Putting  the  pleasant  thought  aside,  he  opened  the 
roll,  and  with  exceeding  tenderness  of  touch  brought 
forth  a  sheet  of  vellum  dry  to  brittleness,  and  yellow 
as  a  faded  sycamore  leaf.  There  were  lines  upon  it 
as  of  a  geometrical  drawing,  and  an  inscription  in 
strange  characters.  He  bent  over  the  chart,  if  such 
it  may  be  called,  eagerly,  and  read  it  through ;  then, 
with  a  satisfied  expression,  he  folded  it  back  into  the 
cover,  rebuckled  the  straps,  and  placed  the  parcel 
under  the  pillow.  Evidently  the  business  drawing 
him  was  proceeding  as  he  would  have  had  it.  Next 
he  woke  the  negro  with  a  touch.  The  black  in  salute 
bent  his  body  forward,  and  raised  his  hands  palm 
out,  the  thumbs  at  the  forehead.  Attention  singu- 
larly intense  settled  upon  his  countenance;  he  ap- 
peared to  listen  with  his  soul.  It  was  time  for 
speech,  yet  the  master  merely  pointed  to  one  of  the 
sleepers.  The  watchful  negro  caught  the  idea,  and 
going  to  the  man,  aroused  him,  then  resumed  his 


place  and  posture  by  the  pallet.  The  action  re- 
vealed his  proportions.  He  looked  as  if  he  could 
have  lifted  the  gates  of  Gaza,  and  borne  them  easily 
away;  and  to  the  strength  there  were  superadded 
the  grace,  suppleness,  and  softness  of  motion  of  a 
cat.  One  could  not  have  helped  thinking  the  slave 
might  have  all  the  elements  to  make  him  a  superior 
agent  in  fields  of  bad  as  well  as  good. 

The  second  slave  arose,  and  waited  respectfully. 
It  would  have  been  difficult  to  determine  his  nation- 
ality. He  had  the  lean  face,  the  high  nose,  sallow 
complexion,  and  low  stature  of  an  Armenian.  His 
countenance  was  pleasant  and  intelligent.  In  ad- 
dressing him,  the  master  made  signs  with  hand  and 
finger;  and  they  appeared  sufficient,  for  the  servant 
walked  away  quickly  as  if  on  an  errand.  A  short 
time,  and  he  came  back  bringing  a  companion  of  the 
genus  sailor,  very  red-faced,  heavily  built,  stupid,  his 
rolling  gait  unrelieved  by  a  suggestion  of  good  man- 
ners. Taking  position  before  the  black-gowned  per- 
sonage, his  feet  wide  apart,  the  mariner  said : 

"You  sent  for  me?" 

The  question  was  couched  in  Byzantine  Greek. 

"Yes,"  the  passenger  replied,  in  the  same  tongue, 
though  with  better  accent.  "  Where  are  we  ? " 

"But  for  this  calm  we  should  be  at  Sidon.  The 
lookout  reports  the  mountains  in  view." 

The  passenger  reflected  a  moment,  then  asked, 
"Resorting  to  the  oars,  when  can  we  reach  the 
city  ? " 

"By  midnight." 

"  Very  well.     Listen  now." 

The  speaker's  manner  changed;  fixing  his  big 
eyes  upon  the  sailor's  lesser  orbs,  he  continued : 

"A  few  stadia  north  of  Sidon  there  is  what  may 


be  called  a  bay.  It  is  about  four  miles  across.  Two 
little  rivers  empty  into  it,  one  on  each  side.  Near 
the  middle  of  the  bend  of  the  shore  there  is  a  well  of 
sweet  water,  with  flow  enough  to  support  a  few  vil- 
lagers and  their  camels.  Do  you  know  the  bay  ? " 

The  skipper  would  have  become  familiar. 

"You  are  well  acquainted  with  this  coast,"  he  said. 

' '  Do  you  know  of  such  a  bay  ? "  the  passenger  re- 
peated. 

"  I  have  heard  of  it." 

"  Could  you  find  it  at  night  ?  " 

"I  believe  so." 

"  That  is  enough.  Take  me  into  the  bay,  and  land 
me  at  midnight.  I  will  not  go  to  the  city.  Get  out 
all  the  oars  now.  At  the  proper  time  I  will  tell  you 
what  further  I  wish.  Remember  I  am  to  be  set  ashore 
at  midnight  at  a  place  which  I  will  show  you." 

The  directions  though  few  were  clear.  Having 
given  them,  the  passenger  signed  the  negro  to  fan 
him,  and  stretched  himself  upon  the  pallet;  and 
thenceforth  there  was  no  longer  a  question  who  was 
in  control.  It  became  the  more  interesting,  how- 
ever, to  know  the  object  of  the  landing  at  midnight 
on  the  shore  of  a  lonesome  unnamed  bay. 


CHAPTEE  H 

THE   MIDNIGHT   LANDING 

THE  skipper  predicted  like  a  prophet.  The  ship 
was  in  the  bay,  and  it  was  midnight  or  nearly  so; 
for  certain  stars  had  climbed  into  certain  quarters 
of  the  sky,  and  after  their  fashion  were  striking  the 
hour. 

The  passenger  was  pleased. 

"You  have  done  well,"  he  said  to  the  mariner. 
"Be  silent  now,  and  get  close  in  shore.  There  are 
no  breakers.  Have  the  small  boat  ready,  and  do  not 
let  the  anchors  go." 

The  calm  still  prevailed,  and  the  swells  of  the  sea 
were  scarce  perceptible.  Under  the  gentlest  impulse 
of  the  oars  the  little  vessel  drifted  broadside  on  until 
the  keel  touched  the  sands.  At  the  same  instant  the 
small  boat  appeared.  The  skipper  reported  to  the 
passenger.  Going  to  each  of  the  slaves,  the  latter 
signed  them  to  descend.  The  negro  swung  himself 
down  like  a  monkey,  and  received  the  baggage, 
which,  besides  the  bundles  already  mentioned,  con- 
sisted of  some  tools,  notably  a  pick,  a  shovel,  and 
a  stout  crowbar.  An  empty  water-skin  was  also 
sent  down,  followed  by  a  basket  suggestive  of  food. 
Then  the  passenger,  with  a  foot  over  the  side  of  the 
vessel,  gave  his  final  directions. 

"  You  will  run  now,"  he  said  to  the  skipper,  who, 
to  his  credit,  had  thus  far  asked  no  questions,  "  down 


11 

to  the  city,  and  lie  there  to-morrow,  and  to-morrow 
night.  Attract  little  notice  as  possible.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  pass  the  gate.  Put  out  in  time  to  be 
here  at  sunrise.  I  will  be  waiting  for  you.  Day 
after  to-morrow  at  sunrise — remember." 

"But  if  you  should  not  be  here  ? "  asked  the  sailor, 
thinking  of  extreme  probabilities. 

"  Then  wait  for  me,"  was  the  answer. 

The  passenger,  in  turn,  descended  to  the  boat,  and 
was  caught  in  the  arms  of  the  black,  and  seated  care- 
fully as  he  had  been  a  child.  In  brief  time  the  party 
was  ashore,  and  the  boat  returning  to  the  ship;  a 
little  later,  the  ship  withdrew  to  where  the  night 
effectually  curtained  the  deep. 

The  stay  on  the  shore  was  long  enough  to  appor- 
tion the  baggage  amongst  the  slaves.  The  master 
then  led  the  way.  Crossing  the  road  running  from 
Sidon  along  the  coast  to  the  up-country,  they  came 
to  the  foothills  of  the  mountain,  all  without  habita- 
tion. 

Later  they  came  upon  signs  of  ancient  life  in 
splendor — broken  columns,  and  here  and  there  Cor- 
inthian capitals  in  marble  discolored  and  sunk  deeply 
in  sand  and  mould.  The  patches  of  white  on  them 
had  a  ghastly  glimmer  in  the  starlight.  They  were 
approaching  the  site  of  an  old  city,  a  suburb  prob- 
ably of  Palae-Tyre  when  she  was  one  of  the  specta- 
cles of  the  world,  sitting  by  the  sea  to  rule  it  regally 
far  and  wide. 

On  further  a  small  stream,  one  of  those  emptying 
into  the  bay,  had  ploughed  a  ravine  for  itself  across 
the  route  the  party  was  pursuing.  Descending  to 
the  water,  a  halt  was  made  to  drink,  and  fill  the 
water-skin,  which  the  negro  took  on  his  shoulder. 

On  further  there  was  another  ancient  site  strewn 


12 

with  fragments  indicative  of  a  cemetery.  Hewn 
stones  were  frequent,  and  mixed  with  them  were 
occasional  entablatures  and  vases  from  which  the 
ages  had  not  yet  entirely  worn  the  fine  chiselling.  At 
length  an  immense  uncovered  sarcophagus  barred 
the  way.  The  master  stopped  by  it  to  study  the 
heavens ;  when  he  found  the  north  star,  he  gave  the 
signal  to  his  followers,  and  moved  under  the  trail  of 
the  steadfast  beacon. 

They  came  to  a  rising  ground  more  definitely 
marked  by  sarcophagi  hewn  from  the  solid  rock, 
and  covered  by  lids  of  such  weight  and  solidity  that 
a  number  of  them  had  never  been  disturbed.  Doubt- 
less the  dead  within  were  lying  as  they  had  been  left 
— but  when,  and  by  whom  ?  What  disclosures  there 
will  be  when  at  last  the  end  is  trumpeted  in ! 

On  further,  but  still  connected  with  the  once  mag- 
nificent funeral  site,  they  encountered  a  wall  many 
feet  thick,  and  shortway  beyond  it,  on  the  mountain's 
side,  there  were  two  arches  of  a  bridge  of  which  all 
else  had  been  broken  down ;  and  these  two  had  never 
spanned  anything  more  substantial  than  the  air. 
Strange  structure  for  such  a  locality!  Obviously 
the  highway  which  once  ran  over  it  had  begun  in 
the  city  the  better  to  communicate  with  the  cemetery 
through  which  the  party  had  just  passed.  So  much 
was  of  easy  understanding;  but  where  was  the  other 
terminus  ?  At  sight  of  the  arches  the  master  drew  a 
long  breath  of  relief.  They  were  the  friends  for 
whom  he  had  been  searching. 

Nevertheless,  without  stopping,  he  led  down  into 
a  hollow  on  all  sides  sheltered  from  view ;  and  there 
the  unloading  took  place.  The  tools  and  bundles 
were  thrown  down  by  a  rock,  and  preparations  made 
for  the  remainder  of  the  night.  The  pallet  was 


13 

spread  for  the  master.  The  basket  gave  up  its  con- 
tents, and  the  party  refreshed  themselves  and  slept 
the  sleep  of  the  weary. 

The  secluded  bivouac  was  kept  the  next  day. 
Only  the  master  went  forth  in  the  afternoon.  Climb- 
ing the  mountain,  he  found  the  line  in  continuation 
of  the  bridge ;  a  task  the  two  arches  serving  as  a  base 
made  comparatively  easy.  He  stood  then  upon  a 
bench  or  terrace  cumbered  with  rocks,  and  so  broad 
that  few  persons  casually  looking  would  have  sus- 
pected it  artificial.  Facing  fully  about  from  the 
piers,  he  walked  forward  following  the  terrace  which 
at  places  was  out  of  line,  and  piled  with  debris  tum- 
bled from  the  mountain  on  the  right  hand  side ;  in  a 
few  minutes  that  silent  guide  turned  with  an  easy 
curve  and  disappeared  in  what  had  yet  the  appear- 
ance hardly  distinguishable  of  an  area  wrenched 
with  enormous  labor  from  a  low  cliff  of  solid  brown 
limestone. 

The  visitor  scanned  the  place  again  and  again; 
then  he  said  aloud: 

"No  one  has  been  here  since  " — 

The  sentence  was  left  unfinished. 

That  he  could  thus  identify  the  spot,  and  with  such 
certainty  pass  upon  it  in  relation  to  a  former  period, 
proved  he  had  been  there  before. 

Rocks,  earth,  and  bushes  filled  the  space.  Picking 
footway  through,  he  examined  the  face  of  the  cliff 
then  in  front  of  him,  lingering  longest  on  the  heap 
of  breakage  forming  a  bank  over  the  meeting  line  of 
area  and  hill. 

uYes,"  he  repeated,  this  time  with  undisguised 
satisfaction,  ' '  no  one  has  been  here  since  " — 

Again  the  sentence  was  unfinished. 

He  ascended  the  bank  next,  and  removed  some  of 


14 

the  stones  at  the  top.  A  carved  line  in  low  relief  on 
the  face  of  the  rock  was  directly  exposed ;  seeing  it 
he  smiled,  and  replaced  the  stones,  and  descending, 
went  back  to  the  terrace,  and  thence  to  the  slaves  in 
bivouac. 

From  one  of  the  packages  he  had  two  iron  lamps 
of  old  Roman  style  brought  out,  and  supplied  with 
oil  and  wicks;  then,  as  if  everything  necessary  to 
his  project  was  done,  he  took  to  the  pallet.  Some 
goats  had  come  to  the  place  in  his  absence,  but  no 
living  creature  else. 

After  nightfall  the  master  woke  the  slaves,  and 
made  final  preparation  for  the  venture  upon  which 
he  had  come.  The  tools  he  gave  to  one  man,  the 
lamps  to  another,  and  the  water-skin  to  the  negro. 
Then  he  led  out  of  the  hollow,  and  up  the  mountain 
to  the  terrace  visited  in  the  afternoon ;  nor  did  he 
pause  in  the  area  mentioned  as  the  abrupt  terminus 
of  the  highway  over  the  skeleton  piers.  He  climbed 
the  bank  of  stones  covering  the  foot  of  the  cliff  up 
to  the  precise  spot  at  which  his  reconnoissance  had 
ended. 

Directly  the  slaves  were  removing  the  bank  at  the 
top ;  not  a  difficult  task  since  they  had  only  to  roll 
the  loose  stones  down  a  convenient  grade.  They 
worked  industriously.  At  length — in  half  an  hour 
probably — an  opening  into  the  cliff  was  discovered. 
The  cavity,  small  at  first,  rapidly  enlarged,  until  it 
gave  assurance  of  a  doorway  of  immense  proportions. 
When  the  enlargement  sufficed  for  his  admission, 
the  master  stayed  the  work,  and  passed  in.  The 
slaves  followed.  The  interior  descent  offered  a  grade 
corresponding  with  that  of  the  bank  outside — another 
bank,  in  fact,  of  like  composition,  but  more  difficult 
to  pass  on  account  of  the  darkness. 


15 

With  his  foot  the  leading  adventurer  felt  the  way 
down  to  a  floor;  and  when  his  assistants  came  to 
him,  he  took  from  a  pocket  in  his  gown  a  small  case 
filled  with  a  chemical  powder  which  he  poured  at  his 
feet ;  then  he  produced  a  flint  and  steel,  and  struck 
them  together.  Some  sparks  dropped  upon  the  pow- 
der. Instantly  a  flame  arose  and  filled  the  place 
with  a  ruddy  illumination.  Lighting  the  lamps  by 
the  flame,  the  party  looked  around  them,  the  slaves 
with  simple  wonder. 

They  were  in  a  vault — a  burial  vault  of  great 
antiquity.  Either  it  was  an  imitation  of  like  cham- 
bers in  Egypt,  or  they  were  imitations  of  it.  The 
excavation  had  been  done  with  chisels.  The  walls 
were  niched,  giving  them  an  appearance  of  panel- 
ling, and  over  each  of  the  niches  there  had  been  an 
inscription  in  raised  letters,  now  mostly  defaced. 
The  floor  was  a  confusion  of  fragments  knocked 
from  sarcophagi,  which,  massive  as  they  were,  had 
been  tilted,  overturned,  uncovered,  mutilated,  and 
robbed.  Useless  to  inquire  whose  the  vandalism. 
It  may  have  been  of  Chaldeans  of  the  time  of 
Almanezor,  or  of  the  Greeks  who  marched  with 
Alexander,  or  of  Egyptians  who  were  seldom  regard- 
ful of  the  dead  of  the  peoples  they  overthrew  as 
they  were  of  their  own,  or  of  Saracens,  thrice  con- 
querors along  the  Syrian  coast,  or  of  Christians. 
Few  of  the  Crusaders  were  like  St.  Louis. 

But  of  all  this  the  master  took  no  notice.  With 
him  it  was  right  that  the  vault  should  look  the 
wreck  it  was.  Careless  of  inscriptions,  indifferent 
to  carving,  his  eyes  ran  rapidly  along  the  foot  of  the 
northern  wall  until  they  came  to  a  sarcophagus  of 
green  marble.  Thither  he  proceeded.  He  laid  his 
hand  upon  the  half-turned  lid,  and  observing  that 


16 

the  back  of  the  great  box — if  such  it  may  be  termed—- 
was against  the  wall,  he  said  again  : 

"No  one  has  been  here  since " — 

And  again  the  sentence  was  left  unfinished. 

Forthwith  he  became  all  energy.  The  negro 
brought  the  crowbar,  and,  by  direction,  set  it  under 
the  edge  of  the  sarcophagus,  which  he  held  raised 
while  the  master  blocked  it  at  the  bottom  with  a 
stone  chip.  Another  bite,  and  a  larger  chip  was 
inserted.  Good  hold  being  thus  had,  a  vase  was 
placed  for  fulcrum;  after  which,  at  every  down- 
ward pressure  of  the  iron,  the  ponderous  coffin 
swung  round  a  little  to  the  left.  Slowly  and  with 
labor  the  movement  was  continued  until  the  space 
behind  was  uncovered. 

By  this  time  the  lamps  had  become  the  depend- 
encies for  light.  With  his  in  hand,  the  master 
stooped  and  inspected  the  exposed  wall.  Involun- 
tarily the  slaves  bent  forward  and  looked,  but  saw 
nothing  different  from  the  general  surface  in  that 
quarter.  The  master  beckoned  the  negro,  and  touch- 
ing a  stone  not  wider  than  his  three  fingers,  but 
reddish  in  hue,  and  looking  like  mere  chinking 
lodged  in  an  accidental  crevice,  signed  him  to  strike 
it  with  the  end  of  the  bar.  Once — twice — the  stone 
refused  to  stir ;  with  the  third  blow  it  was  driven  in 
out  of  sight,  and,  being  followed  vigorously,  was 
heard  to  drop  on  the  other  side.  The  wall  there- 
upon, to  the  height  of  the  sarcophagus  and  the 
width  of  a  broad  door,  broke,  and  appeared  about  to 
tumble  down. 

When  the  dust  cleared  away,  there  was  a  crevice 
unseen  before,  and  wide  enough  to  admit  a  hand. 
The  reader  must  remember  there  were  masons  in  the 
old  time  who  amused  themselves  applying  their 


17 

mathematics  to  such  puzzles.  Here  obviously  the 
intention  had  been  to  screen  an  entrance  to  an 
adjoining  chamber,  and  the  key  to  the  design  had 
been  the  sliver  of  red  granite  first  displaced. 

A  little  patient  use  then  of  hand  and  bar  enabled 
the  workman  to  take  out  the  first  large  block  of 
the  combination.  That  the  master  numbered  with 
chalk,  and  had  carefully  set  aside.  A  second  block 
was  taken  out,  numbered,  and  set  aside ;  finally  the 
screen  was  demolished,  and  the  way  stood  open. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   HIDDEN   TREASURE 

THE  slaves  looked  dubiously  at  the  dusty  aperture, 
which  held  out  no  invitation  to  them;  the  master, 
however,  drew  his  robe  closer  about  him,  and  stoop- 
ing1 went  in,  lamp  in  hand.  They  then  followed. 

An  ascending  passage,  low  but  of  ample  width,  re- 
ceived them.  It  too  had  been  chiselled  from  the  solid 
rock.  The  wheel  marks  of  the  cars  used  in  the  work 
were  still  on  the  floor.  The  walls  were  bare  but 
smoothly  dressed.  Altogether  the  interest  here  lay 
in  expectation  of  what  was  to  come ;  and  possibly  it 
was  that  which  made  the  countenance  of  the  master 
look  so  grave  and  absorbed.  He  certainly  was  not 
listening  to  the  discordant  echoes  roused  as  he  ad- 
vanced. 

The  ascent  was  easy.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  steps 
brought  them  to  the  end  of  the  passage. 

They  then  entered  a  spacious  chamber  circular  and 
domed.  The  light  of  the  lamps  was  not  enough  to 
redeem  the  ceiling  from  obscurity;  yet  the  master 
led  without  pause  to  a  sarcophagus  standing  under 
the  centre  of  the  dome,  and  when  he  was  come  there 
everything  else  was  forgotten  by  him. 

The  receptacle  of  the  dead  thus  discovered  had  been 
hewn  from  the  rock,  and  was  of  unusual  proportions. 
Standing  broadside  to  the  entrance,  it  was  the  height 
of  an  ordinary  man,  and  twice  as  long  as  high.  The 


19 

exterior  had  been  polished  smoothly  as  the  material 
would  allow ;  otherwise  it  was  of  absolute  plainness, 
looking  not  unlike  a  dark  brown  box.  The  lid  was 
a  slab  of  the  finest  white  marble  carven  into  a  perfect 
model  of  Solomon's  Temple.  While  the  master  sur- 
veyed the  lid  he  was  visibly  affected.  He  passed  the 
lamp  over  it  slowly,  letting  the  light  fall  into  the 
courts  of  the  famous  building;  in  like  manner  he 
illuminated  the  corridors,  and  the  tabernacle ;  and,  as 
he  did  so,  his  features  trembled  and  his  eyes  were 
suffused.  He  walked  around  the  exquisite  represen- 
tation several  times,  pausing  now  and  then  to  blow 
away  the  dust  that  had  in  places  accumulated  upon 
it.  He  noticed  the  effect  of  the  transparent  white- 
ness in  the  chamber;  so  in  its  day  the  original  had  lit 
up  the  surrounding  world.  Undoubtedly  the  model 
had  peculiar  hold  upon  his  feelings. 

But  shaking  the  weakness  off  he  after  a  while  ad- 
dressed himself  to  work.  He  had  the  negro  thrust 
the  edge  of  the  bar  under  the  lid,  and  raise  it  gently. 
Having  thoughtfully  provided  himself  in  the  ante- 
chamber with  pieces  of  stone  for  the  purpose,  he 
placed  one  of  them  so  as  to  hold  the  vantage  gained. 
Slowly,  then,  by  working  at  the  ends  alternately,  the 
immense  slab  was  turned  upon  its  centre ;  slowly  the 
hollow  of  the  coffin  was  flooded  with  light;  slowly, 
and  with  seeming  reluctance,  it  gave  up  its  secrets. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  plainness  of  the  exterior, 
the  interior  of  the  sarcophagus  was  lined  with  plates 
and  panels  of  gold,  on  which  there  were  cartoons 
chased  and  beaten  in,  representing  ships,  and  tall 
trees,  doubtless  cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  masons  at 
work,  and  two  men  armed  and  in  royal  robes  greet- 
ing each  other  with  clasped  hands ;  and  so  beautiful 
were  the  cartoons  that  the  eccentric  medalleur,  Gel- 


m 

lini,  would  have  studied  them  long,  if  not  enviously. 
Yet  he  who  now  peered  into  the  receptacle  scarcely 
glanced  at  them. 

On  a  stone  chair  seated  was  the  mummy  of  a  man 
with  a  crown  upon  its  head,  and  over  its  body,  for 
the  most  part  covering  the  linen  wrappings,  was  a 
robe  of  threads  of  gold  in  ample  arrangement.  The 
hands  rested  on  the  lap ;  in  one  was  a  sceptre ;  the 
other  held  an  inscribed  silver  tablet.  There  were 
rings  plain,  and  rings  with  jewels  in  setting,  circling 
the  fingers  and  thumbs;  the  ears,  ankles,  even  the 
great  toes,  were  ornamented  in  like  manner.  At  the 
feet  a  sword  of  the  fashion  of  a  cimeter  had  been 
laid.  The  blade  was  in  its  scabbard,  but  the  scabbard 
was  a  mass  of  jewels,  and  the  handle  a  flaming  ruby. 
The  belt  was  webbed  with  pearls  and  glistening  bril- 
liants. Under  the  sword  were  the  instruments  sacred 
then  and  ever  since  to  Master  Masons — a  square,  a 
gavel,  a  plummet,  and  an  inscribing  compass. 

The  man  had  been  a  king — so  much  the  first  glance 
proclaimed.  With  him,  as  with  his  royal  brethren 
from  the  tombs  along  the  Nile,  death  had  asserted 
itself  triumphantly  over  the  embalmer.  The  cheeks 
were  shrivelled  and  mouldy ;  across  the  forehead  the 
skin  was  drawn  tight;  the  temples  were  hollows 
rimmed  abruptly  with  the  frontal  bones;  the  eyes, 
pits  partially  filled  with  dried  ointments  of  a  bitu- 
minous color.  The  monarch  had  yielded  his  life  in 
its  full  ripeness,  for  the  white  hair  and  beard  still 
adhered  in  stiffened  plaits  to  the  skull,  cheeks,  and 
chin.  The  nose  alone  was  natural ;  it  stood  up  thin 
and  hooked,  like  the  beak  of  an  eagle. 

At  sight  of  the  figure  thus  caparisoned  and  main- 
taining its  seat  in  an  attitude  of  calm  composure  the 
slaves  drew  back  startled.  The  negro  dropped  his 


21 

iron  bar,  making  the  chamber  ring  with  a  dissonant 
clangor. 

Around  the  mummy  in  careful  arrangement  were 
vessels  heaped  with  coins  and  pearls  and  precious 
stones,  cut  and  ready  for  the  goldsmith.  Indeed,  the 
whole  inner  space  of  the  sarcophagus  was  set  with 
basins  and  urus,  each  in  itself  a  work  of  high  art ; 
and  if  their  contents  were  to  be  judged  by  what 
appeared  overflowing  them,  they  all  held  precious 
stones  of  every  variety.  The  corners  had  been  draped 
with  cloths  of  gold  and  cloths  embroidered  with 
pearls,  some  of  which  were  now  falling  to  pieces  of 
their  own  weight. 

We  know  that  kings  and  queens  are  but  men  and 
women  subject  to  the  same  passions  of  common  peo- 
ple; that  they  are  generous  or  sordid  according  to 
their  natures ;  that  there  have  been  misers  amongst 
them;  but  this  one — did  he  imagine  he  could  carry 
his  amassments  with  him  out  of  the  world  ?  Had  he 
so  loved  the  gems  in  his  life  as  to  dream  he  could 
illumine  his  tomb  with  them  ?  It  so,  O  royal  idiot ! 

The  master,  when  an  opening  had  been  made  suffi- 
ciently wide  by  turning  the  lid  upon  the  edge  of  the 
sarcophagus,  took  off  his  sandals,  gave  a  foot  to  one 
of  his  slaves,  and  swung  himself  into  the  interior. 
The  lamp  was  then  given  him,  and  he  surveyed  the 
wealth  and  splendor  as  the  king  might  never  again. 
And  as  the  king  in  his  day  had  said  with  exultation, 
Lo !  it  is  all  mine,  the  intruder  now  asserted  title. 

Unable,  had  he  so  wished,  to  carry  the  whole  col- 
lection off,  he  looked  around  upon  this  and  upon 
that,  determining  where  to  begin.  Conscious  he  had 
nothing  to  fear,  and  least  of  all  from  the  owner  in 
the  chair,  he  was  slow  and  deliberate.  From  his 
robe  he  drew  a  number  of  bags  of  coarse  hempen 


cloth,  and  a  broad  white  napkin.  The  latter  he 
spread  upon  the  floor,  first  removing  several  of  the 
urns  to  obtain  space;  then  he  emptied  one  of  the 
vessels  upon  it,  and  from  the  sparkling  and  vari- 
colored heap  before  him  proceeded  to  make  selection. 

His  judgment  was  excellent,  sure  and  swift.  Not 
seldom  he  put  the  large  stones  aside,  giving  prefer- 
ence to  color  and  lustre.  Those  chosen  he  dropped 
into  a  bag.  When  the  lot  was  gone  through,  he 
returned  the  rejected  to  the  vessel,  placing  it  back 
exactly  in  its  place.  Then  he  betook  himself  to 
another  of  the  vessels,  and  then  another,  until,  in 
course  of  a  couple  of  hours,  he  had  made  choice  from 
the  collection,  and  filled  nine  bags,  and  tied  them 
securely. 

Greatly  relieved,  he  arose,  rubbed  the  benumbed 
joints  of  his  limbs  awhile,  then  passed  the  packages 
out  to  the  slaves.  The  occupation  had  been  weari- 
some and  tensive ;  but  it  was  finished,  and  he  would 
now  retire.  He  lingered  to  give  a  last  look  at  the 
interior,  muttering  the  sentence  again,  and  leaving 
it  unfinished  as  before: 

"  No  one  has  been  here  since  " — • 

From  the  face  of  the  king,  his  eyes  fell  to  the  sil- 
ver tablet  in  the  nerveless  hand.  Moving  closer,  and 
holding  the  lamp  in  convenient  position,  he  knelt 
and  read  the  inscription. 

I. 

"  There  is  but  one  God,  and  He  was  from  the  beginning,  and 
will  be  without  end. 

II. 

"  In  my  lifetime,  I  prepared  this  vault  and  tomb  to  receive 
my  body,  and  keep  it  safely  ;  yet  it  may  be  visited,  for  the  earth 
and  sea  are  always  giving  up  their  secrets. 


23 

in. 

"  Therefore,  O  Stranger,  first  to  find  me,  know  thou  f 
"  That  in  all  my  days  I  kept  intercourse  with  Solomon,  King 
of  the  Jews,  wisest  of  men,  and  the  richest  and  greatest.  As 
is  known,  he  set  about  building  a  house  to  his  Lord  God,  r&. 
solved  that  there  should  be  nothing  like  it  in  the  world,  nothing 
so  spacious,  so  enriched,  so  perfect  in  proportions,  so  in  all 
things  becoming  the  glory  of  his  God.  In  sympathy  with  him 
I  gave  him  of  the  skill  of  my  people,  workers  in  brass,  and 
silver,  and  gold,  and  products  of  the  quarries  ;  and  in  their 
ships  my  sailors  brought  him  the  yield  of  mines  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  At  last  the  house  was  finished  ;  then  he  sent  me 
the  model  of  the  house,  and  the  coins,  and  cloths  of  gold  and 
pearl,  and  the  precious  stones,  and  the  vessels  holding  them, 
and  the  other  things  of  value  here.  And  if,  O  Stranger,  thou 
dost  wonder  at  the  greatness  of  the  gift,  know  thou  that  it  was 
but  a  small  part  of  what  remained  unto  him  of  like  kind,  for 
he  was  master  of  the  earth,  and  of  everything  belonging  to  it 
which  might  be  of  service  to  him,  even  the  elements  and  their 
subtleties. 

IV. 

"  Nor  think,  O  Stranger,  that  I  have  taken  the  wealth  into  the 
tomb  with  me,  imagining  it  can  serve  me  in  the  next  life.  I 
store  it  here  because  I  love  him  who  gave  it  to  me,  and  am 
jealous  of  his  love  ;  and  that  is  all. 

V. 

"  So  thou  wilt  use  the  wealth  in  ways  pleasing  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord  God  of  Solomon,  my  royal  friend,  take  thou  of  it 
in  welcome.  There  is  no  God  but  his  God  ! 

"  Thus  say  I— 

HIRAM,  KING  OF  TTBE." 

"Rest  thou  thy  soul,  O  wisest  of  pagan  kings," 
said  the  master,  rising.  "  Being  the  first  to  findthee 
here,  and  basing  my  title  to  thy  wealth  on  that  cir- 
cumstance, I  will  use  it  in  a  way  pleasing  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord  God  of  Solomon.  Verily,  verily, 
there  is  no  God  but  his  God  1 " 


24 

This,  then,  was  the  business  that  brought  the  man 
to  the  tomb  of  the  king  whose  glory  was  to  have 
been  the  friend  of  Solomon.  Pondering  the  idea, 
we  begin  to  realize  how  vast  the  latter's  fame  was ; 
and  it  ceases  to  be  matter  of  wonder  that  his  con- 
temporaries, even  the  most  royal,  could  have  been 
jealous  of  his  love. 

Not  only  have  we  the  man's  business,  but  it  is 
finished ;  and  judging  from  the  satisfaction  discern- 
ible on  his  face  as  he  raised  the  lamp  and  turned  to 
depart,  the  result  must  have  been  according  to  his 
best  hope.  He  took  off  his  robe,  and  tossed  it  to  his 
slaves  ;  then  he  laid  a  hand  upon  the  edge  of  the 
sarcophagus  preparatory  to  climbing  out.  At  the 
moment,  while  giving  a  last  look  about  him,  an 
emerald,  smoothly  cut,  and  of  great  size,  larger  in- 
deed than  a  full-grown  pomegranate,  caught  his  eyes 
in  its  place  loose  upon  the  floor.  He  turned  back, 
and  taking  it  up,  examined  it  carefully ;  while  thus 
engaged  his  glance  dropped  to  the  sword  almost  at 
his  feet.  The  sparkle  of  the  brilliants,  and  the  fire- 
flame  of  the  great  ruby  in  the  grip,  drew  him  irre- 
sistibly, and  he  stood  considering. 

Directly  he  spoke  in  a  low  voice : 

"  No  one  has  been  here  since  " — 

He  hesitated — glanced  hurriedly  around  to  again 
assure  himself  it  was  not  possible  to  be  overheard — 
then  finished  the  sentence : 

"No  one  has  been  here  since  I  came  a  thousand 
years  ago." 

At  the  words  so  strange,  so  inexplicable  upon  any 
theory  of  nature  and  common  experience,  the  lamp 
shook  in  his  hand.  Involuntarily  he  shrank  from 
the  admission,  though  to  himself.  But  recovering, 
he  repeated: 


26 

"Since  I  came  a  thousand  years  ago." 

Then  he  added  more  firmly : 

"But  the  earth  and  the  sea  are  always  giving  up 
their  secrets.  So  saith  the  good  King  Hiram ;  and 
since  I  am  a  witness  proving  the  wisdom  of  the 
speech,  I  at  least  must  believe  him.  Wherefore  it  is 
for  me  to  govern  myself  as  if  another  will  shortly 
follow  me.  The  saying  of  the  king  is  an  injunc- 
tion." 

With  that,  he  turned  the  glittering  sword  over  and 
over  admiringly.  Loath  to  let  it  go,  he  drew  the 
blade  partly  from  the  scabbard,  and  its  clearness  had 
the  depth  peculiar  to  the  sky  between  stars  at  night. 

"  Is  there  anything  it  will  not  buy,"  he  continued, 
reflectively.  ' '  What  king  could  refuse  a  sword 
once  Solomon's  ?  I  will  take  it." 

Thereupon  he  passed  both  the  emerald  and  the 
sword  out  to  the  slaves,  whom  he  presently  joined. 

The  conviction,  but  a  moment  before  expressed, 
that  another  would  follow  him  to  the  tomb  of  the 
venerated  Tyrian,  was  not  strong  enough  to  hinder 
the  master  from  attempting  to  hide  every  sign  which 
might  aid  in  the  discovery.  The  negro,  under  his 
direction,  returned  the  lid  exactly  to  its  former  fit- 
ting place  on  the  sarcophagus ;  the  emerald  and  the 
sword  he  wrapped  in  his  gown;  the  bags  and  the 
tools  were  counted  and  distributed  among  the  slaves 
for  easy  carriage.  Lamp  in  hand,  he  then  walked 
around  to  see  that  nothing  was  left  behind.  Inci- 
dentally he  even  surveyed  the  brown  walls  and  the 
dim  dome  overhead.  Having  reached  the  certainty 
that  everything  was  in  its  former  state,  he  waved 
his  hand,  and  with  one  long  look  backward  at  the 
model,  ghostly  beautiful  in  its  shining  white  trans- 
parency, he  led  the  way  to  the  passage  of  entrance, 

3 


26 

leaving  the  king  to  his  solitude  and  stately  sleep, 
unmindful  of  the  visitation  and  the  despoilment. 

Out  in  the  large  reception  room,  he  paused  again 
to  restore  the  wall.  Beginning  with  the  insignifi- 
cant key,  one  by  one  the  stones,  each  of  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  been  numbered  by  him,  were 
raised  and  reset.  Then  handfuls  of  dust  were  col- 
lected and  blown  into  the  slight  crevices  till  they 
were  invisible.  The  final  step  was  the  restoration  of 
the  sarcophagus;  this  done,  the  gallery  leading  to 
the  real  vault  of  the  king  was  once  more  effectually 
concealed. 

' '  He  who  follows,  come  he  soon  or  late,  must 
have  more  than  sharp  eyes  if  he  would  have  audi- 
ence with  Hiram,  my  royal  friend  of  Tyre,"  the 
adventurer  said,  in  his  meditative  way,  feeling  at 
the  same  time  in  the  folds  of  his  gown  for  the  chart 
so  the  object  of  solicitude  on  the  ship.  The  roll,  the 
emerald,  and  the  sword  were  also  safe.  Signing  the 
slaves  to  remain  where  they  were,  he  moved  slowly 
across  the  chamber,  and  by  aid  of  his  lamp  surveyed 
an  aperture  there  so  broad  and  lofty  it  was  sugges- 
tive of  a  gate  rather  than  a  door. 

"It  is  well,"  he  said,  smiling.  "The  hunter  of 
spoils,  hereafter  as  heretofore,  will  pass  this  way 
instead  of  the  other." 

The  remark  was  shrewd.  Probably  nothing  had 
so  contributed  to  the  long  concealment  of  the  gallery 
just  reclosed  the  second  time  in  a  thousand  years  as 
the  high  doorway,  with  its  invitation  to  rooms  be- 
yond it,  all  now  in  iconoclastic  confusion. 

Rejoining  his  workmen,  he  took  a  knife  from  the 
girdle  of  one  of  them,  and  cut  a  slit  in  the  gurglet 
large  enough  to  admit  the  bags  of  precious  stones. 
The  skin  was  roomy,  and  received  them,  though 


with  the  loss  of  much  of  the  water.  Having  thus 
disposed  of  that  portion  of  the  plunder  to  the  best 
advantage  both  for  portage  and  concealment,  he 
helped  swing  it  securely  upon  the  negro's  shoulder, 
and  without  other  delay  led  from  the  chamber  to  the 
great  outdoors,  where  the  lamps  were  extinguished. 

The  pure  sweet  air,  as  may  be  imagined,  was  wel- 
come to  every  one.  While  the  slaves  stood  breath- 
ing it  in  wholesome  volumes,  the  master  studied  the 
stars,  and  saw  the  night  was  not  so  far  gone  but  that, 
with  industry,  the  sea-shore  could  be  made  in  time 
for  the  ship. 

Still  pursuing  the  policy  of  hiding  the  road  to  the 
tomb  much  as  possible,  he  waited  while  the  men  cov- 
ered the  entrance  as  before  with  stones  brought  up 
from  the  bank.  A  last  survey  of  the  face  of  the  rock, 
minute  as  the  starlight  allowed,  reassured  him  that, 
as  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  the  treasure  might  remain 
with  its  ancient  owner  undisturbed  for  yet  another 
thousand  years,  if  not  forever;  after  which,  in  a  con- 
gratulatory mood,  he  descended  the  mountain  side  to 
the  place  of  bivouac,  and  thence  in  good  time,  and 
without  adventure,  arrived  at  the  landing  by  the  sea. 
There  the  negro,  wading  far  out,  flung  the  tools  into 
the  water. 

In  the  appointed  time  the  galley  came  down  from 
the  city,  and,  under  impulsion  of  the  oars,  disappeared 
with  the  party  up  the  coast  northward. 

The  negro  unrolled  the  pallet  upon  the  deck,  and 
brought  some  bread,  Smyrna  figs,  and  wine  of  Prink- 
ipo,  and  the  four  ate  and  drank  heartily. 

The  skipper  was  then  summoned. 

"You  have  done  well,  my  friend,"  said  the  master. 
"Spare  not  sail  or  oar  now,  but  make  Byzantium 
without  looking  into  any  wayside  port.  I  will  in* 


crease  your  pay  in  proportion  as  you  shorten  the 
time  we  are  out.     Look  to  it — go — and  speed  you." 

Afterward  the  slaves  in  turn  kept  watch  while  he 
slept.  And  though  the  coming  and  going  of  sailors 
was  frequent,  not  one  of  them  noticed  the  oil-stained 
water-skin  cast  carelessly  near  the  master's  pillow, 
or  the  negro's  shaggy  half -cloak,  serving  as  a  wrap 
for  the  roll,  the  emerald,  and  the  sword  once  Solo- 
mon's. 

The  run  of  the  galley  from  the  nameless  bay  near 
Sidon  was  without  stop  or  so  much  as  a  headwind. 
Always  the  blue  sky  above  the  deck,  and  the  blue 
sea  below.  In  daytime  the  master  passenger  would 
occasionally  pause  in  his  walk  along  the  white 
planks,  and,  his  hand  on  the  gunwale,  give  a  look  at 
some  of  the  landmarks  studding  the  ancient  Cycla- 
dean  Sea,  an  island  here,  or  a  tall  promontory  of 
the  continent  yonder,  possibly  an  Olympian  height 
faintly  gray  in  the  vaster  distance.  His  manner  at 
such  moments  did  not  indicate  a  traveller  new  to  the 
highway.  A  glance  at  the  points  such  as  business 
men  closely  pressed  give  the  hands  on  the  face  of  a 
clock  to  determine  the  minute  of  the  hour,  and  he 
would  resume  walking.  At  night  he  slept  right 
soundly. 

From  the  Dardanelles  into  the  Hellespont;  then 
the  Marmora.  The  captain  would  have  coasted,  but 
the  passenger  bade  him  keep  in  the  open.  "  There  is 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  weather,"  he  said,  "but 
there  is  time  to  be  saved." 

In  an  afternoon  they  sighted  the  great  stones  Oxia 
and  Plati ;  the  first,  arid  and  bare  as  a  gray  egg,  and 
conical  like  an  irregular  pyramid ;  the  other,  a  plane 
on  top,  with  verdure  and  scattering  trees.  A  glance 


at  the  map  shows  them  the  most  westerly  group  of 
the  Isles  of  the  Princes. 

Now  Nature  is  sometimes  stupid,  sometimes  whim- 
sical, doing  unaccountable  things.  One  gazing  at 
the  other  isles  of  the  group  from  a  softly  rocking 
caique  out  a  little  way  on  the  sea  divines  instantly 
that  she  meant  them  for  summer  retreats,  but  these 
two,  Oxia  and  Plati,  off  by  themselves,  bleak  in 
winter,  apparently  always  ready  for  spontaneous 
combustion  in  the  heated  months,  for  what  were 
they  designed  ?  No  matter — uses  were  found  for 
them — fitting  uses.  Eremites  in  search  of  the  hard- 
est, grimmest  places,  selected  Oxia,  and  pecking 
holes  and  caves  in  its  sides,  shared  the  abodes  thus 
laboriously  won  with  cormorants,  the  most  glutton- 
ous of  birds.  In  time  a  rude  convent  was  built  near 
the  summit.  On  the  other  hand,  Plati  was  con- 
verted into  a  Gehenna  for  criminals,  and  in  the  vats 
and  dungeons  with  which  it  was  provided,  lives 
were  spent  weeping  for  liberty.  On  this  isle,  tears 
and  curses ;  on  that,  tears  and  prayers. 

At  sundown  the  galley  was  plying  its  oars  be- 
tween Oxia  and  the  European  shore  about  where  St. 
Stephano  is  now  situated.  The  dome  of  Sta.  Sophia 
was  in  sight :  behind  it,  in  a  line  to  the  northwest, 
arose  the  tower  of  Galata.  "  Home  by  lam  plighting 
— Blessed  be  the  Virgin ! "  the  mariners  said  to  each 
other  piously.  But  no!  The  master  passenger  sent 
for  the  captain. 

"  I  do  not  care  to  get  into  harbor  before  morning. 
The  night  is  delicious,  and  I  will  try  it  in  the  small 
boat.  I  was  once  a  rower,  and  yet  have  a  fancy  for 
the  oars.  Do  thou  lay  off  and  on  hereabouts.  Put 
two  lamps  at  the  masthead  that  I  may  know  thy  ves- 
sel when  I  desire  to  return.  Now  get  out  the  boat." 


30 

The  captain  thought  his  voyager  queer  of  taste; 
nevertheless  he  did  as  told.  In  a  short  time  the 
skiff — if  the  familiar  word  can  be  pardoned — put  off 
with  the  negro  and  his  master,  the  latter  at  the 
oars. 

In  preparation  for  the  excursion  the  gurglet  half 
full  of  water  and  the  sheepskin  mantle  of  the  black 
man  were  lowered  into  the  little  vessel.  The  boat 
moved  away  in  the  direction  of  Prinkipo,  the  mother 
isle  of  the  group;  and  as  the  night  deepened,  it 
passed  from  view. 

When  out  of  sight  from  the  galley's  deck,  the 
master  gave  the  rowing  to  the  negro,  and  taking  seat 
by  the  rudder,  changed  direction  to  the  southeast; 
after  which  he  kept  on  and  on,  until  Plati  lay  direct- 
ly in  his  course. 

The  southern  extremity  of  Plati  makes  quite  a  bold 
blnff.  In  a  period  long  gone  a  stone  tower  had  been 
constructed  there,  a  lookout  and  shelter  for  guards- 
men on  duty ;  and  there  being  no  earthly  chance  of 
escape  for  prisoners,  so  securely  were  they  immured, 
the  duty  must  have  been  against  robbers  from  the 
mainland  on  the  east,  and  from  pirates  generally. 
Under  the  tower  there  was  a  climb  difficult  for  most 
persons  in  daylight,  and  from  the  manoeuvring  of 
the  boat,  the  climb  was  obviously  the  object  draw- 
ing the  master.  He  at  length  found  it,  and  stepped 
out  on  a  shelving  stone.  The  gurglet  and  mantle 
were  passed  to  him,  and  soon  he  and  his  follower 
were  feeling  their  way  upward. 

On  the  summit,  the  chief  walked  once  around  the 
tower,  now  the  merest  ruin,  a  tumbledown  without 
form,  in  places  overgrown  with  sickly  vines.  Re- 
joining his  attendant,  and  staying  a  moment  to 
thoroughly  empty  the  gurglet  of  water,  on  his 


8i 

hands  and  knees  he  crawled  into  a  passage  much 
obstructed  by  debris.  The  negro  waited  outside. 

The  master  made  two  trips ;  the  first  one,  he  took 
the  gurglet  in ;  the  second,  he  took  the  mantle  wrap- 
ping the  sword.  At  the  end,  he  rubbed  his  hands  in 
self-congratulation. 

"  They  are  safe — the  precious  stones  of  Hiram,  and 
the  sword  of  Solomon!  Three  other  stores  have  I 
like  this  one — in  India,  in  Egypt,  in  Jerusalem — and 
there  is  the  tomb  by  Sidon.  Oh,  I  shall  not  come  to 
want !  "  and  he  laughed  well  pleased. 

The  descent  to  the  small  boat  was  effected  without 
accident. 

Next  morning  toward  sunrise  the  passengers  dis- 
embarked at  Port  St.  Peter  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Golden  Horn.  A  little  later  the  master  was  resting 
at  home  in  Byzantium. 

Within  three  days  the  mysterious  person  whom 
we,  wanting  his  proper  name  and  title,  have  termed 
the  master,  had  sold  his  house  and  household  effects. 
In  the  night  of  the  seventh  day,  with  his  servants, 
singular  in  that  all  of  them  were  deaf  and  dumb,  he 
went  aboard  ship,  and  vanished  down  the  Marmora, 
going  no  one  but  himself  knew  whither. 

The  visit  to  the  tomb  of  the  royal  friend  of  Solo- 
mon had  evidently  been  to  provide  for  the  journey; 
and  that  he  took  precious  stones  in  preference  to 
gold  and  silver  signified  a  journey  indefinite  as  to 
time  and  place. 


BOOK  II 

THE  PRINCE  OF  IHDIA 


CHAPTER  I 

A   MESSENGER  FROM   CIPANGO 

JUST  fifty-three  years  after  the  journey  to  the  tomb 
of  the  Syrian  king — more  particularly  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  May,  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-eight — a  man 
entered  one  of  the  stalls  of  a  market  in  Constantinople 
— to-day  the  market  would  be  called  a  bazaar — and 
presented  a  letter  to  the  proprietor. 

The  Israelite  thus  honored  delayed  opening  the 
linen  envelope  while  he  surveyed  the  messenger. 
The  liberty,  it  must  be  remarked,  was  not  a  usual 
preliminary  in  the  great  city,  the  cosmopolitanism 
of  which  had  been  long  established ;  that  is  to  say,  a 
face,  a  figure,  or  a  mode,  to  gain  a  second  look  from 
one  of  its  denizens,  had  then,  as  it  has  now,  to  be 
grossly  outlandish.  In  this  instance  the  owner  of 
the  stall  indulged  a  positive  stare.  He  had  seen,  he 
thought,  representatives  of  all  known  nationalities, 
but  never  one  like  the  present  visitor — never  one  so 
pinkish  in  complexion,  and  so  very  bias-eyed — never 
one  who  wrapped  and  re- wrapped  himself  in  a  single 
shawl  so  entirely,  making  it  answer  all  the  other 
vestments  habitual  to  men.  The  latter  peculiarity 
was  more  conspicuous  in  consequence  of  a  sack  of 
brown  silk  hanging  loosely  from  the  shoulder,  with 
leaves  and  flowers  done  in  dazzling  embroidery  down 
the  front  and  around  the  edges.  And  then  the  slip- 
pers were  of  silk  not  less  rich  with  embroidery,  while 


86 

over  the  bare  head  a  sunshade  of  bamboo  and  paper 
brilliantly  painted  was  carried. 

Too  well  bred  to  persist  in  the  stare  or  attempt  to 
satisfy  his  curiosity  by  a  direct  question,  the  propri- 
etor opened  the  letter,  and  began  reading  it.  His 
neighbors  less  considerate  ran  together,  and  formed 
a  crowd  around  the  stranger,  who  nevertheless  bore 
the  inspection  composedly,  apparently  unconscious 
of  anything  to  make  him  such  a  cynosure. 

The  paper  which  the  removal  of  the  envelope  gave 
to  the  stall-keeper's  hand  excited  him  the  more.  The 
delicacy  of  its  texture,  its  softness  to  the  touch,  its 
semi-transparency,  were  unlike  anything  he  had  ever 
seen;  it  was  not  only  foreign,  but  very  foreign. 

The  lettering,  however,  was  in  Greek  plainly  done. 
He  noticed  first  the  date;  then,  his  curiosity  becom- 
ing uncontrollable,  and  the  missive  being  of  but  one 
sheet,  his  eyes  dropped  to  the  place  of  signature. 
There  was  no  name  there — only  a  seal — an  impres- 
sion on  a  surface  of  yellow  wax  of  the  drooping  figure 
of  a  man  bound  to  a  cross. 


At  sight  of  the  seal  his  eyes  opened  wider.  He 
drew  a  long  breath  to  quiet  a  rising  feeling,  half 
astonishment,  half  awe.  Retreating  to  a  bench  near 
.  by,  he  seated  himself,  and  presently  became  unmind- 
ful of  the  messenger,  of  the  crowd,  of  everything, 
indeed,  except  the  letter  and  the  matters  of  which  it 
treated. 


87 

The  demand  of  the  reader  for  a  sight  of  the  paper 
which  could  produce  such  an  effect  upon  a  person 
who  was  not  more  than  an  ordinary  dealer  in  an 
Eastern  market  may  by  this  time  have  become  im- 
perious; wherefore  it  is  at  once  submitted  in  free 
translation.  Only  the  date  is  modernized. 

"ISLAND  IN  THE  OVER-SEA.    FAR  EAST. 
May  15,  A.D.  1447. 

"Uel,  Son  of  Jahdai. 

"  Peace  to  thee  and  all  thine  ! 

"If  thou  hast  kept  faithfully  the  heirlooms  of  thy  progeni- 
tors, somewhere  in  thy  house  there  is  now  a  duplication  of 
the  seal  which  thou  wilt  find  hereto  attached ;  only  that  one  is 
done  in  gold.  The  reference  is  to  prove  to  thee  a  matter 
I  am  pleased  to  assert,  knowing  it  will  at  least  put  thee  upon 
inquiry — I  knew  thy  father,  thy  grandfather,  and  his  father, 
and  others  of  thy  family  further  back  than  it  is  wise  for  me 
to  declare ;  and  I  loved  them,  for  they  were  a  virtuous  and 
goodly  race,  studious  to  do  the  will  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
and  acknowledging  no  other ;  therein  manifesting  the  chiefest 
of  human  excellences.  To  which,  as  more  directly  personal 
to  thyself,  I  will  add  that  qualities  of  men,  like  qualities  in 
plants,  are  transmissible,  and  go  they  unmixed  through  many 
generations,  they  make  a  kind.  Therefore,  at  this  great  dis- 
tance, and  though  I  have  never  looked  into  thy  face,  or  touched 
thy  hand,  or  heard  thy  voice,  I  know  thee,  and  give  thee  trust 
confidently.  The  son  of  thy  father  cannot  tell  the  world  what 
he  has  of  me  here,  or  that  there  is  a  creature  like  unto  me 
living,  or  that  he  has  to  do  with  me  in  the  least ;  and  as  the 
father  would  gladly  undertake  my  requests,  even  those  I  now 
reveal  unto  thee,  not  less  willingly  will  his  son  undertake 
them.  Refusal  would  be  the  first  step  toward  betrayal. 

"  With  this  preface,  O  Son  of  Jahdai,  I  write  without  fear, 
and  freely  ;  imparting,  first,  that  it  is  now  fifty  years  since  I  set 
foot  upon  the  shores  of  this  Island,  which,  for  want  of  a  name 
likely  to  be  known  to  thee,  I  have  located  and  described  as 
4  In  the  Over-Sea.  Far  East.' 

"  Its  people  are  by  nature  kindly  disposed  to  strangers,  and 
live  simply  and  affectionately.  Though  they  never  heard  of 


the  Nazarene  whom  the  world  persists  in  calling  the  Christ,  it 
is  truth  to  say  they  better  illustrate  his  teachings,  especially  in 
their  dealings  with  each  other,  than  the  so-called  Christians 
amongst  whom  thy  lot  is  cast.  Withal,  however,  I  have 
become  weary,  the  fault  being  more  in  myself  than  in  them. 
Desire  for  change  is  the  universal  law.  Only  God  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  to-morrow  eternally.  So  I  am  resolved 
to  seek  once  more  the  land  of  our  fathers  and  Jerusalem,  for 
which  I  yet  have  tears.  In  her  perfection,  she  was  more  than 
beautiful ;  in  her  ruin,  she  is  more  than  sacred. 

"  In  the  execution  of  my  design,  know  thou  next,  O  Son  of 
Jahdai,  that  I  despatch  my  servant,  Syama,  intrusting  him  to 
deliver  this  letter.  When  it  is  put  into  thy  hand,  note  the  day, 
and  see  if  it  be  not  exactly  one  year  from  this  15  May,  the 
time  I  have  given  him  to  make  the  journey,  which  is  more  by 
sea  than  land.  Thou  mayst  then  know  I  am  following  him, 
though  with  stoppages  of  uncertain  duration  ;  it  being  neces- 
sary for  me  to  cross  from  India  to  Mecca ;  thence  to  Kash-Cush, 
and  down  the  Nile  to  Cairo.  Nevertheless  1  hope  to  greet  thee 
in  person  within  six  months  after  Syama  hath  given  thee  this 
report. 

"  The  sending  a  courier  thus  in  advance  is  with  a  design  of 
which  I  think  it  of  next  importance  to  inform  thee. 

"  It  is  my  purpose  to  resume  residence  in  Constantinople  ; 
for  that,  I  must  have  a  house.  Syama,  amongst  other  duties  in 
my  behalf,  is  charged  to  purchase  and  furnish  one,  and  have  it 
re"ady  to  receive  me  when  I  arrive.  The  day  is  long  passed 
since  a  Khan  had  attractions  for  me.  Much  more  agreeable  is  it 
to  think  my  own  door  will  open  instantly  at  my  knock.  In  this 
affair  thou  canst  be  of  service  which  shall  be  both  remembered 
and  gratefully  recompensed.  He  hath  no  experience  in  the 
matter  of  property  in  thy  city ;  thou  hast ;  it  is  but  natural, 
therefore,  if  I  pray  thou  bring  it  into  practice  by  assisting  him 
in  the  selection,  in  perfecting  the  title,  and  in  all  else  the  pro- 
ject may  require  doing  ;  remembering  only  that  the  tenement 
be  plain  and  comfortable,  not  rich  ;  for,  alas !  the  time  is  not 
yet  when  the  children  of  Israel  may  live  conspicuously  in  the 
eye  of  the  Christian  world. 

"  Thou  wilt  find  Syama  shrewd  and  of  good  judgment,  older 
than  he  seemeth,  and  quick  to  render  loyalty  for  my  sake.  Be 
Advised  also  that  he  is  deaf  and  dumb  ;  yet,  if  in  speaking  thou 


39 

turn  thy  face  to  him,  and  use  the  Greek  tongue,  he  will  under- 
stand  thee  by  the  motion  of  thy  lips,  and  make  answer  by  signs. 

"  Finally,  be  not  afraid  to  accept  this  commission  on  account 
of  pecuniary  involvement.  Syama  hath  means  of  procuring  all 
the  money  he  may  require,  even  to  extravagance  ;  at  the  same 
time  he  is  forbidden  to  contract  a  debt,  except  it  be  to  thee  for 
kindness  done,  all  which  he  will  report  to  me  so  I  may  pay 
them  fitly. 

"  In  all  essential  things  Syama  hath  full  instructions  ;  be- 
sides, he  is  acquainted  with  my  habits  and  tastes  ;  wherefore  I 
conclude  this  writing  by  saying  I  hope  thou  wilt  render  him  aid 
as  indicated,  and  that  when  I  come  thou  wilt  allow  me  to  relate 
myself  to  thee  as  father  to  son,  in  all  things  a  help,  in  nothing 
a  burden. 

"  Again,  O  Son  of  Jahdai,  to  thee  and  thine — Peace  ! " 

[Seal.] 

The  son  of  Jahdai,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  reading, 
let  his  hands  fall  heavily  in  his  lap,  while  he  plunged 
into  a  study  which  the  messenger  with  his  foreign 
airs  could  not  distract. 

Very  great  distance  is  one  of  the  sublimities  most 
powerful  over  the  imagination.  The  letter  had  come 
from  an  Island  he  had  never  heard  named.  An 
Island  in  the  Over-Sea  which  doubtless  washed  the 
Eastern  end  of  the  earth,  wherever  that  might  be. 
And  the  writer !  How  did  he  get  there  ?  And  what 
impelled  him  to  go  ? 

A  chill  shot  the  thinker's  nerves.  He  suddenly 
remembered  that  in  his  house  there  was  a  cupboard 
in  a  wall,  with  two  shelves  devoted  to  storage  of 
heirlooms ;  on  the  upper  shelf  lay  the  torah  of  im- 
memorial usage  in  his  family ;  the  second  contained 
cups  of  horn  and  metal,  old  phylacteries,  amulets, 
and  things  of  vertu  in  general,  and  of  such  addition 
and  multiplication  through  the  ages  that  he  himself 
could  not  have  made  a  list  of  them ;  in  fact,  now  his 


40 

attention  was  aroused,  he  recalled  them  a  mass  of 
colorless  and  formless  objects  which  had  ceased  to 
have  history  or  value.  Amongst  them,  however,  a 
seal  in  the  form  of  a  medallion  in  gold  recurred  to 
him ;  but  whether  the  impression  upon  it  was  raised 
or  sunken  he  could  not  have  certainly  said  ;  nor 
could  he  have  told  what  the  device  was.  His  father 
and  grandfather  had  esteemed  it  highly,  and  the 
story  they  told  him  about  it  divers  times  when  he 
was  a  child  upon  their  knees  he  could  repeat  quite 
substantially. 

A  man  committed  an  indignity  to  Jesus  the  pre- 
tended Christ,  who,  in  punishment,  condemned  him 
to  linger  on  the  earth  until  in  the  fulness  of  time  he 
should  come  again ;  and  the  man  had  gone  on  living 
through  the  centuries.  Both  the  father  and  grand- 
father affirmed  the  tale  to  be  true ;  they  had  known 
the  unfortunate  personally ;  yet  more,  they  declared 
he  had  been  an  intimate  of  the  family,  and  had  done 
its  members  through  generations  friendlinesses  with- 
out number  ;  in  consequence  they  had  come  to  con- 
sider him  one  of  them  in  love.  They  had  also  said 
that  to  their  knowledge  it  was  his  custom  to  pray  for 
death  regularly  as  the  days  came  and  went.  He  had 
repeatedly  put  himself  in  its  way ;  yet  curiously  it 
passed  him  by,  until  he  at  last  reached  a  conviction 
he  could  not  die. 

Many  years  had  gone  since  the  stall-keeper  last 
heard  the  tale,  and  still  more  might  have  been 
counted  since  the  man  disappeared,  going  no  one 
knew  whither. 

But  he  was  not  dead !  He  was  coming  again !  It 
was  too  strange  to  believe!  It  could  not  be!  Yet 
one  thing  was  clear — whatever  the  messenger  might 
be,  or  presuming  him  a  villain,  whatever  the  lie  he 


thought  to  make  profitable,  appeal  could  be  safely 
and  cheaply  made  to  the  seal  in  the  cupboard.  As  a 
witness  it,  too,  was  deaf  and  dumb ;  on  its  face  never- 
theless there  was  revelation  and  the  truth. 

Through  the  momentary  numbness  of  his  faculties 
so  much  the  son  of  Jahdai  saw,  and  he  did  not  wait. 
Signing  the  messenger  to  follow,  he  passed  into  a 
closet  forming  part  of  the  stall,  and  the  two  being 
alone,  he  spoke  in  Greek. 

"  Be  thou  seated  here,"  he  said,  "  and  wait  till  I 
return." 

The  messenger  smiled  and  bowed,  and  took  seat; 
thereupon  Uel  drew  his  turban  down  to  his  ears, 
and,  letter  in  hand,  started  home. 

His  going  was  rapid;  sometimes  he  almost  ran. 
Acquaintances  met  him  on  the  street,  but  he  did  not 
see  them  ;  if  they  spoke  to  him,  he  did  not  hear.  Ar- 
rived at  his  own  door,  he  plunged  into  the  house  as 
if  a  mob  were  at  his  heels.  Now  he  was  before  the 
cupboard !  Little  mercy  the  phylacteries  and  amu- 
lets, the  bridle-spanglery  of  donkeys,  the  trinketry  of 
women,  his  ancestresses  once  famous  for  beauty  or 
many  children — little  mercy  the  motley  collection 
on  the  second  shelf  received  from  his  hands.  He 
tossed  them  here  and  there,  and  here  and  there  again, 
but  the  search  was  vain.  Ah,  good  Lord!  was  the 
medalet  lost  ?  And  of  all  times,  then  ? 

The  failure  made  him  the  more  anxious;  his  hands 
shook  while  he  essayed  the  search  once  more;  and 
he  reproached  himself.  The  medal  was  valuable  for 
its  gold,  and  besides  it  was  a  sacred  souvenir.  Con- 
science stung  him.  Over  and  over  he  shifted  and 
turned  the  various  properties  on  the  shelf,  the  last 
time  systematically  and  with  fixed  attention.  When 
he  stopped  to  rest,  the  perspiration  stood  on  his  fore* 


head  in  large  drops,  and  he  fairly  wrung  his  hands, 
crying,  "It  is  not  here — it  is  lost!  My  God,  how 
shall  I  know  the  truth  now !  " 

At  this  pause  it  is  to  be  said  that  the  son  of  Jahdai 
was  wifeless.  The  young  woman  whom  he  had  taken 
as  helpmeet  in  dying  had  left  him  a  girl  baby  who, 
at  the  time  of  our  writing,  was  about  thirteen  years 
old.  Under  the  necessity  thus  imposed,  he  found  a 
venerable  daughter  of  Jerusalem  to  serve  him  as 
housekeeper,  and  charge  herself  with  care  of  the 
child.  Now  he  thought  of  that  person ;  possibly  she 
knew  where  the  seal  was.  He  turned  to  seek  her,  and 
as  he  did  so,  the  door  of  an  adjoining  room  opened, 
and  the  child  appeared. 

He  held  her  very  dear,  because  she  had  the  clear 
olive  complexion  of  her  mother,  and  the  same  soft 
black  eyes  with  which  the  latter  used  to  smile  upon 
him  in  such  manner  that  words  were  never  required 
to  assure  him  of  her  love.  And  the  little  one  was 
bright  and  affectionate,  and  had  prettinesses  in  speech, 
and  sang  low  and  contentedly  the  day  long.  Often 
as  he  took  her  on  his  lap  and  studied  her  fondly,  he 
was  conscious  she  promised  to  be  gentle  and  beautiful 
as  the  departed  one;  beyond  which  it  never  occurred 
to  him  there  could  be  superior  excellences. 

Distressed  as  the  poor  man  was,  he  took  the  child 
in  his  arms,  and  kissed  her  on  the  round  cheek,  and 
was  putting  her  down  when  he  saw  the  medal  at  her 
throat,  hanging  from  a  string.  She  told  him  the 
housekeeper  had  given  it  to  her  as  a  plaything. 
Untied  at  last — for  his  impatience  was  nigh  uncon- 
trollable— he  hurried  with  the  recovered  treasure  to 
a  window,  to  look  at  the  device  raised  upon  it ;  then, 
his  heart  beating  rapidly,  he  made  comparison  with 
the  impression  sunk  in  the  yellow  wax  at  the  foot  of 


43 

the  letter ;  he  put  them  side  by  side — there  could  be 
no  mistake — the  impression  on  the  wax  might  have 
been  made  by  the  medallion ! 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  now  that  the  son  of  Jahdai 
did  not  appreciate  the  circumstance  which  had  be- 
fallen. The  idea  of  a  man  suffering  a  doom  so 
strange  affected  him,  while  the  doom  itself,  consid- 
ered as  a  judgment,  was  simply  awful;  but  his 
thought  did  not  stop  there — it  carried  him  behind 
both  the  man  and  the  doom.  Who  was  He  with  power 
by  a  word,  not  merely  to  change  the  most  fixed  of 
the  decrees  of  nature,  but,  by  suspending  it  entirely, 
hold  an  offending  wretch  alive  for  a  period  already 
encroaching  upon  the  eternal  ?  One  less  firmly 
rooted  in  the  faith  of  his  fathers  would  have  stood 
aghast  at  the  conclusion  to  which  the  answer  as  an 
argument  led — a  conclusion  admitting  no  escape  once 
it  was  reached.  The  affair  in  hand,  however,  despite 
its  speculative  side,  was  real  and  urgent;  and  the 
keeper  of  the  stall,  remembering  the  messenger  in 
half  imprisonment,  fell  to  thinking  of  the  practical 
questions  before  him ;  first  of  which  was  the  treat- 
ment he  should  accord  his  correspondent's  requests. 

This  did  not  occupy  him  long.  His  father,  he  re- 
flected, would  have  received  the  stranger  cordially, 
and  as  became  one  of  such  close  intimacy ;  so  should 
he.  The  requests  were  easy,  and  carried  no  pecu- 
niary liability  with  them ;  he  was  merely  to  aid  an 
inexperienced  servant  in  the  purchase  of  a  dwelling- 
house,  the  servant  having  plenty  of  funds.  True, 
when  the  master  presented  himself  in  person,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  determine  exactly  the  footing 
to  be  accorded  him ;  but  for  the  present  that  might  be 
deferred.  If,  in  the  connection,  the  son  of  Jahdai 
dwelt  briefly  upon  possible  advantages  to  himself, 


44 

the  person  being  presumably  rich  and  powerful,  it 
was  human,  and  he  is  to  be  excused  for  it. 

The  return  to  the  market  was  less  hurried  than  the 
going  from  it.  There  Uel  acted  promptly.  He  took 
Syama  to  his  house,  and  put  him  into  the  guest-cham- 
ber, assuring  him  it  was  a  pleasure.  Yet  when  night 
came  he  slept  poorly.  The  incidents  of  the  day  were 
mixed  with  much  that  was  unaccountable,  breaking 
the  even  tenor  of  his  tradesman's  life  by  unwonted 
perplexities.  He  had  not  the  will  to  control  his 
thoughts ;  they  would  go  back  to  the  excitement  of 
the  moment  when  he  believed  the  medallion  lost; 
and  as  points  run  together  in  the  half-awake  state 
on  very  slender  threads,  he  had  a  vision  of  a  myste- 
rious old  man  coming  into  his  house,  and  in  some 
way  taking  up  and  absorbing  the  life  of  his  child. 
When  the  world  at  last  fell  away  and  left  him  asleep, 
it  was  with  a  dread  tapping  heavily  at  his  heart. 

The  purchase  which  Uel  was  requested  to  assist  in 
making  proved  a  light  affair.  After  diligent  search 
through  the  city,  Syama  decided  to  take  a  two-story 
house  situated  in  a  street  running  along  the  foot  of 
the  hill  to-day  crowned  by  the  mosque  Sultan  Selim, 
although  it  was  then  the  site  of  an  unpretentious 
Christian  church.  Besides  a  direct  eastern  frontage, 
it  was  in  the  divisional  margin  between  the  quarters 
of  the  Greeks,  which  were  always  clean,  and  those 
of  the  Jews,  which  were  always  filthy.  It  was  also 
observed  that  neither  the  hill  nor  the  church  ob- 
structed the  western  view  from  the  roof ;  that  is  to 
say,  it  was  so  far  around  the  upper  curve  of  the  hill 
that  a  thistle-down  would  be  carried  by  a  south-east 
wind  over  many  of  the  proudest  Greek  residences 
and  dropped  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Virgin  on 
Blacherne,  or  in  the  imperial  garden  behind  the' 


45 

Church.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  the  son 
of  Jahdai  was  not  unmindful  that  his  own  dwelling, 
a  small  but  comfortable  structure  also  of  wood,  was 
just  opposite  across  the  street.  Everything  consid- 
ered, the  probabilities  were  that  Syama's  selection 
would  prove  satisfactory  to  his  master.  The  furnish- 
ment  was  a  secondary  matter. 

It  is  to  be  added  that  in  course  of  the  business  there 
were  two  things  from  which  Uel  extracted  great  pleas- 
ure ;  Syama  always  had  money  to  pay  promptly  for 
everything  he  bought ;  in  the  next  place,  communi- 
cation with  him  was  astonishingly  easy.  His  eyes 
made  up  for  the  deficiency  in  hearing;  while  his 
signs,  gestures,  and  looks  were  the  perfection  of  pan- 
tomime. Of  evenings  the  child  never  tired  watching 
him  in  conversation. 

While  we  go  now  to  bring  the  Wanderer  up,  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  house,  completely 
furnished,  is  awaiting  him,  and  he  has  only  to  knock 
at  the  door,  enter,  and  be  at  home. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   PILGRIM    AT   EL   KATIF 

THE  bay  of  Bahrein  indents  the  western  shore  of 
the  Persian  Gulf.  Hard  by  the  point  on  the  north 
at  which  it  begins  its  inland  bend  rise  the  white- 
washed, one-story  mud-houses  of  the  town  El  Katif. 
Belonging  to  the  Arabs,  the  most  unchangeable  of 
peoples,  both  the  town  and  the  bay  were  known  in 
the  period  of  our  story  by  their  present  names. 

The  old  town  in  the  old  time  derived  importance 
chiefly  from  the  road  which,  leading  thence  west- 
wardly  through  Hejr  Yemameh,  brought  up,  after 
many  devious  stretches  across  waterless  wastes  of 
sand,  at  El  Derayeh,  a  tented  capital  of  the  Bed- 
ouins, and  there  forked,  one  branch  going  to  Medina, 
the  other  to  Mecca.  In  other  words,  El  Katif  was  to 
Mecca  on  the  east  the  gate  Jeddo  was  to  it  on  the 
west. 

When,  in  annual  recurrence,  the  time  for  the  indis- 
pensable Hajj,  or  Pilgrimage,  came,  the  name  of  the 
town  was  on  the  lips  of  men  and  women  beyond  the 
Green  Sea,  and  southwardly  along  the  coast  of  Oman, 
and  in  the  villages  and  dowars  back  of  the  coast 
under  the  peaks  of  Akdar,  only  a  little  less  often 
than  those  of  the  holy  cities.  Then  about  the  first 
of  July  the  same  peoples  as  pilgrims  from  Irak, 
Afghanistan,  India,  and  beyond  those  countries  even, 
there  being  an  East  and  a  Far  East,  and  pilgrims 


47 

from  Arabia,  crowded  together,  noisy,  quarrelsome, 
squalid,  accordant  in  but  one  thing — a  determination 
to  make  the  Hajj  lest  they  might  die  as  Jews  or 
Christians. 

The  law  required  the  pilgrim  to  be  at  Mecca  in  the 
month  of  Ramazan,  the  time  the  Prophet  himself 
had  become  a  pilgrim.  From  El  Katif  the  direct 
journey  might  be  made  in  sixty  days,  allowing  an 
average  march  of  twelve  miles.  By  way  of  Medina, 
it  could  be  made  to  permit  the  votary  to  be  present 
and  participate  in  the  observances  usual  on  the  day 
of  the  Mysterious  Night  of  Destiny. 

The  journey  moreover  was  attended  with  dangers. 
Winds,  drouth,  sand  storms  beset  the  way;  and 
there  were  beasts  always  hungry,  and  robbers  always 
watchful.  The  sun  beat  upon  the  hills,  curtained 
the  levels  with  mirage,  and  in  the  fiumuras  kindled 
invisible  fires;  so  in  what  theunacclimated  breathed 
and  in  what  they  drank  of  the  waters  of  the  land 
there  were  diseases  and  death. 

The  Prophet  having  fixed  the  month  of  Ramazan 
for  the  Hajj,  pilgrims  accustomed  themselves  to 
assemblage  at  Constantinople,  Damascus,  Cairo  and 
Bagdad.  If  they  could  not  avoid  the  trials  of  the 
road,  they  could  lessen  them.  Borrowing  the  term 
caravan  as  descriptive  of  the  march,  they  established 
markets  at  all  convenient  places. 

This  is  the  accounting  for  one  of  the  notable  feat- 
ures of  El  Katif  from  the  incoming  of  June  till  the 
caravan  extended  itself  on  the  road,  and  finally  dis- 
appeared in  the  yellow  farness  of  the  Desert.  One 
could  not  go  amiss  for  purveyors  in  general.  Deal- 
ers in  horses,  donkeys,  camels,  and  dromedaries 
abounded.  The  country  for  miles  around  appeared 
like  a  great  stock  farm.  Herds  overran  the  lean 


48 

earth.  Makers  of  harness,  saddles,  box-houdahs,  and 
swinging  litters  of  every  variety  and  price,  and  con- 
tractors of  camels,  horses,  and  trains  complete  did 
not  wait  to  be  solicited;  the  competition  between 
them  was  too  lively  for  dignity.  Hither  and  thither 
shepherds  drove  fatted  sheep  in  flocks,  selling  them 
on  the  hoof.  In  shady  places  sandal  merchants  and 
clothiers  were  established ;  while  sample  tents  spotted 
the  whole  landscape.  Hucksters  went  about  with 
figs,  dates,  dried  meats  and  bread.  In  short,  pil- 
grims could  be  accommodated  with  every  conceiv- 
able necessary.  They  had  only  to  cry  out,  and  the 
commodity  was  at  hand. 

Amongst  the  thousands  who  arrived  at  El  Katif  in 
the  last  of  June,  1448,  was  a  man  whose  presence 
made  him  instantly  an  object  of  general  interest. 
He  came  from  the  south  in  a  galley  of  eight  oars 
manned  by  Indian  seamen,  and  lay  at  anchor  three 
days  before  landing.  His  ship  bore  nothing  indica- 
tive of  nationality  except  the  sailors.  She  was  trim- 
looking  and  freshly  painted;  otherwise  there  was 
nothing  uncommon  in  her  appearance.  She  was 
not  for  war — that  was  plain.  She  floated  too  lightly 
to  be  laden;  wherefore  those  who  came  to  look  at 
her  said  she  could  not  be  in  commercial  service. 

Almost  before  furling  sail,  an  awning  was 
stretched  over  her  from  bow  to  stern — an  awning 
which  from  the  shore  appeared  one  great  shawl  of 
variegated  colors.  Thereupon  the  wise  in  such  mat- 
ters decided  the  owner  was  an  Indian  Prince  vastly 
rich,  come,  like  a  good  Mohammedan,  to  approve  his 
faith  by  pilgrimage. 

This  opinion  the  stranger's  conduct  confirmed. 
While  he  did  not  himself  appear  ashore,  he  kept  up 
a  busy  communication  by  means  of  his  small  boat. 


49 

For  three  days,  it  carried  contractors  of  camels  and 
supplies  aboard,  and  brought  them  back. 

They  described  him  of  uncertain  age ;  he  might  be 
sixty,  he  might  be  seventy -five.  While  rather  under 
medium  height,  he  was  active  and  perfectly  his  own 
master.  He  sat  in  the  shade  of  the  awning  cross- 
legged.  His  rug  was  a  marvel  of  sheeny  silk.  He 
talked  Arabic,  but  with  an  Indian  accent.  His  dress 
was  Indian — a  silken  shirt,  a  short  jacket,  large  trou- 
sers, and  a  tremendous  white  turban  on  a  red  tar- 
bousche,  held  by  an  aigrette  in  front  that  was  a 
dazzle  of  precious  stones  such  as  only  a  Rajah  could 
own.  His  attendants  were  few,  but  they  were  gor- 
geously attired,  wore  shintyan  swung  in  rich  belts 
from  their  shoulders,  and  waited  before  him  speech- 
less and  in  servile  posture.  One  at  his  back  upheld 
an  umbrella  of  immense  spread.  He  indulged  few 
words,  and  they  were  strictly  business.  He  wanted 
a  full  outfit  for  the  Haj j ;  could  the  contractor  fur- 
nish him  twenty  camels  of  burden,  and  four  swift 
dromedaries  ?  Two  of  the  latter  were  to  carry  a  lit- 
ter for  himself;  the  other  two  were  for  his  personal 
attendants,  whom  he  desired  furnished  with  well- 
shaded  shugdufs.  The  camels  he  would  load  with 
provisions.  While  speaking,  he  would  keep  his  eyes 
upon  the  person  addressed  with  an  expression  un- 
comfortably searching.  Most  extraordinary,  how- 
ever, he  did  not  once  ask  about  prices. 

One  of  the  Shaykhs  ventured  an  inquiry. 

"  How  great  will  his  Highness'  suite  be  ?  " 

"Four." 

The  Shaykh  threw  up  his  hands. 

"  O  Allah !  Four  dromedaries  and  twenty  camels 
for  four  men !  " 

"Abuser  of  the  salt,"  said  the  stranger  calmly, 
4 


so 

"  hast  thou  not  heard  of  the  paschal  charity,  and  of 
the  fine  to  the  poor  ?  Shall  I  go  empty  handed  to 
the  most  sacred  of  cities  ? " 

Finally  an  agent  was  found  who,  in  concert  with 
associates,  undertook  to  furnish  the  high  votary  with 
all  he  asked  complete. 

The  morning1  of  the  fourth  day  after  his  arrival 
the  Indian  was  pulled  ashore,  and  conducted  out  of 
town  a  short  distance  to  where,  on  a  rising  ground,  a 
camp  had  been  set  up  provisionally  for  his  inspection. 
There  were  tents,  one  for  storage  of  goods  and  pro- 
visions ;  one  for  the  suite ;  one  for  the  chief  Shaykh, 
the  armed  guards,  the  tent  pitchers,  and  the  camel 
drivers  ;  and  a  fourth  one,  larger  than  the  others, 
for  the  Prince  himself.  With  the  dromedaries,  cam- 
els, and  horses,  the  camp  was  accepted ;  then,  as  was 
the  custom,  the  earnest  money  was  paid.  By  set  of 
sun  the  baggage  was  removed  from  the  ship,  and  its 
partition  into  cargoes  begun.  The  Prince  of  India 
had  no  difficulty  in  hiring  all  the  help  he  required. 

Of  the  thirty  persons  who  constituted  the  train  ten 
were  armed  horsemen,  whose  appearance  was  such 
that,  if  it  were  answered  by  a  commensurate  per- 
formance, the  Prince  might  at  his  leisure  march  ir- 
respective of  the  caravan.  Nor  was  he  unmindful 
in  the  selection  of  stores  for  the  journey.  Long  be- 
fore the  sharp  bargainers  with  whom  he  dealt  were 
through  with  him,  he  had  won  their  best  opinion, 
not  less  by  his  liberality  than  for  his  sound  judg- 
ment. They  ceased  speaking  of  him  sneeringly  as 
the  miyan.* 

Soon  as  the  bargain  was  bound,  the  stranger's  at- 
tendants set  about  the  furnishment  of  the  master's 
tent.  Outside  they  painted  it  green.  The  interior 

*  Barbarous  Indian. 


51 

they  divided  into  two  equal  compartments ;  one  for 
reception,  the  other  for  a  magUs  or  drawing-room; 
and  besides  giving  the  latter  divans  and  carpets, 
they  draped  the  ceiling  in  the  most  tasteful  manner 
with  the  shawls  which  on  the  ship  had  served  for 
awning. 

At  length,  everything  in  the  catalogue  of  prepara- 
tion having  been  attended  to,  it  remained  only  to 
wait  the  day  of  general  departure ;  and  for  that,  as 
became  his  greatness,  the  Prince  kept  his  own  quar- 
ters, paying  no  attention  to  what  went  on  around 
him.  He  appeared  a  man  who  loved  solitude,  and 
was  averse  to  thinking  in  public 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   YELLOW   AIR  * 

ONE  evening  the  reputed  Indian  sat  by  the  door 
of  his  tent  alone.  The  red  afterglow  of  the  day 
hung  in  the  western  sky.  Overhead  the  stars  were 
venturing  timidly  out.  The  camels  were  at  rest, 
some  chewing  their  cuds,  others  asleep,  their  necks 
stretched  full  length  upon  the  warm  earth.  The 
watchmen  in  a  group  talked  in  low  voices.  Pres- 
ently the  cry  of  a  muezzin,  calling  to  prayer,  flew  in 
long,  quavering,  swelling  notes  through  the  hushed 
air.  Others  took  up  the  call,  clearer  or  fainter 
according  to  the  distance ;  and  so  was  it  attuned  to 
the  feeling  invoked  by  the  conditions  of  the  moment 
that  no  effort  was  required  of  a  listener  to  think  it  a 
refrain  from  the  sky.  The  watchmen  ceased  debat- 
ing, drew  a  little  apart  from  each  other,  spread  their 
abbas  on  the  ground,  and  stepping  upon  them  bare- 
footed, their  faces  turned  to  where  Mecca  lay,  began 
the  old  unchangeable  prayer  of  Islam — God  is  God, 
and  Mahomet  is  His  Prophet. 

The  pilgrim  at  the  tent  door  arose,  and  when  his 
rude  employes  were  absorbed  in  their  devotions,  like 
them,  he  too  prayed,  but  very  differently. 

"God  of  Israel — my  God!"  he  said,  in  a  tone 
hardly  more  than  speaking  to  himself.  "  These 
about  me,  my  fellow  creatures,  pray  thee  in  the 

*  The  plague  is  known  amongst  Arabs  as  "  the  Yellow  Air." 


58 

hope  of  life,  I  pray  thee  in  the  hope  of  death.  I 
have  come  up  from  the  sea,  and  the  end  was  not 
there ;  now  I  will  go  into  the  Desert  in  search  of  it. 
Or  if  I  must  live,  Lord,  give  me  the  happiness  there 
is  in  serving  thee.  Thou  hast  need  of  instruments 
of  good ;  let  me  henceforth  he  one  of  them,  that  by 
working  for  thy  honor,  I  may  at  last  enjoy  the  peace 
of  the  blessed — Amen." 

Timing  his  movements  with  those  of  the  watch- 
men, he  sank  to  his  knees,  and  repeated  the  prayer ; 
when  they  fell  forward,  their  faces  to  the  earth  in 
the  rik'raths  so  essential  by  the  Mohammedan  code, 
he  did  the  same.  When  they  were  through  the 
service,  he  went  on  with  it  that  they  might  see  him. 
A  careful  adherence  to  this  conduct  gained  him  in  a 
short  time  great  repute  for  sanctity,  making  the 
pilgrimage  enjoyable  as  well  as  possible  to  him. 

The  evening  afterglow  faded  out,  giving  the  world 
to  night  and  the  quiet  it  affects ;  still  the  melancholy 
Indian  walked  before  his  tent,  his  hands  clasped 
behind  him,  his  chin  in  the  beard  on  his  breast. 
Let  us  presume  to  follow  his  reflections. 

"Fifty  years!  A  lifetime  to  all  but  me.  Lord, 
how  heavy  is  thy  hand  when  thou  art  in  anger !  " 

He  drew  a  long  breath,  and  groaned. 

"Fifty  years!  That  they  are  gone,  let  those 
mourn  to  whom  time  is  measured  in  scanty  dole." 

He  became  retrospective. 

"The  going  to  Cipango  was  like  leaving  the  world. 
War  had  yielded  to  contentions  about  religion.  I 
wearied  of  them  also.  My  curse  is  to  weary  of 
everything.  I  wonder  if  the  happiness  found  in  the 
affection  of  women  is  more  lasting  ? " 

He  pursued  the  thought  awhile,  finishing  with  a 
resolution. 


64 

"If  the  opportunity  comes  my  way,  I  will  try  it. 
I  remember  yet  the  mother  of  my  Lael,  though  I  did 
not  understand  the  measure  of  the  happiness  she 
brought  me  until  she  died." 

He  returned  then  to  the  first  subject. 

"  When  will  men  learn  that  faith  is  a  natural  im- 
pulse, and  pure  religion  but  faith  refined  of  doubt  ? " 

The  question  was  succeeded  by  a  wordless  lapse  in 
his  mind,  the  better  apparently  to  prolong  the  pleas- 
ure he  found  in  the  idea. 

"God  help  me,"  he  presently  resumed,  "to  bring 
about  an  agreement  in  that  definition  of  religion! 
There  can  be  no  reform  or  refinement  of  faith  except 
God  be  its  exclusive  subject ;  and  so  certainly  it  leads 
to  lopping  off  all  parasitical  worships  such  as  are 
given  to  Christ  and  Mahomet.  .  .  .  Fifty  years 
ago  the  sects  would  have  tortured  me  had  I  men- 
tioned God  as  a  principle  broad  and  holy  enough  for 
them  to  stand  upon  in  compromise  of  their  disputes ; 
they  may  not  be  better  disposed  now,  yet  I  will  try 
them.  If  I  succeed  I  will  not  be  a  vulgar  monument 
builder  like  Alexander ;  neither  will  I  divide  a  doubt- 
ful fame  with  Caesar.  My  glory  will  be  unique.  I 
will  have  restored  mankind  to  their  true  relations 
with  God.  I  will  be  their  Arbiter  in  Keligion.  Then 
surely  " — he  lifted  his  face  appealingly  as  to  a  person 
enthroned  amidst  the  stars — "surely  thou  wilt  re- 
lease me  from  this  too  long  life.  ...  If  I  fail " 
— he  clinched  his  hands — "if  I  fail,  they  may  exile 
me,  they  may  imprison  me,  they  may  stretch  me  on 
the  rack,  but  they  cannot  kill  me." 

Then  he  walked  rapidly,  his  head  down,  like  a  man 
driven.  When  he  stopped  it  was  to  say  to  himself 
uncertainly : 

"  I  feel  weak  at  heart.    Misgivings  beset  me.    Lord, 


*5 

Lord,  how  long  am  I  to  go  on  thus  cheating  myself  ? 
If  thou  wilt  not  pardon  me,  how  can  I  hope  honor 
from  my  fellow  men  ?  Why  should  I  struggle  to 
serve  them  ? " 

Again  he  clinched  his  hands. 

"Oh,  the  fools,  the  fools!  Will  they  never  be 
done  ?  When  I  went  away  they  were  debating,  Was 
Mahomet  a  Prophet  ?  Was  Christ  the  Messiah  ?  And 
they  are  debating  yet.  What  miseries  I  have  seen 
come  of  the  dispute!  " 

From  this  to  the  end,  the  monologue  was  an  inco- 
herent discursive  medley,  now  plaintive,  now  pas- 
sionate, at  times  prayerful,  then  exultant.  As  he 
proceeded,  he  seemed  to  lose  sight  of  his  present  aim 
at  doing  good  in  the  hope  of  release  from  termless 
life,  and  become  the  Jew  he  was  born. 

"The  orators  called  in  the  sword,  and  they  plied 
each  other  with  it  through  two  hundred  years  and 
more.  There  were  highways  across  Europe  blazoned 
with  corpses.  .  .  .  But  they  were  great  days.  I 
remember  them.  I  remember  Manuel's  appeal  to 
Gregory.  I  was  present  at  the  Council  of  Clermont. 
I  heard  Urban's  speech.  I  saw  Walter,  the  beggar  of 
Burgundy,  a  fugitive  in  Constantinople ;  but  his  fol- 
lowers, those  who  went  out  with  him — where  were 
they  ?  I  saw  Peter,  the  eremite  and  coward,  dragged 
back,  a  deserter,  to  the  plague-smitten  camps  of  An- 
tioch.  I  helped  vote  Godfrey  King  of  Jerusalem, 
and  carried  a  candle  at  his  coronation.  I  saw  the 
hosts  of  Louis  VII.  and  Conrad,  a  million  and  more, 
swallowed  up  in  Iconia  and  the  Pisidian  mountains. 
Then,  that  the  persecutors  of  my  race  might  not  have 
rest,  I  marched  with  Salad  in  to  the  re-conquest  of 
the  Holy  City,  and  heard  Philip  and  Richard  answer 
his  challenge.  The  brave  Kurd,  pitying  the  sorrows 


56 

of  men,  at  last  agreed  to  tolerate  Christians  in  Jeru- 
salem as  pilgrims ;  and  there  the  strife  might  have 
ended,  but  I  played  upon  the  ambition  of  Baldwin, 
and  set  Europe  in  motion  again.  No  fault  of  mine 
that  the  knight  stopped  at  Constantinople  as  King  of 
the  East.  Then  the  second  Frederick  presumed  to 
make  a  Christian  city  of  Jerusalem.  I  resorted  to 
the  Turks,  and  they  burned  and  pillaged  it,  and  cap- 
tured St.  Louis,  the  purest  and  best  of  the  crusaders. 
He  died  in  my  arms.  Never  before  had  I  a  tear  for 
man  or  woman  of  his  faith !  Then  came  Edward  I. , 
and  with  him  the  struggle  as  a  contest  of  armies  ter- 
minated. By  decision  of  the  sword,  Mahomet  was 
the  Prophet  of  God,  and  Christ  but  the  carpenter's 
son.  .  .  .  By  permission  of  the  Kaliphs,  the  Chris- 
tians might  visit  Jerusalem  as  pilgrims.  A  palmer's 
staff  in  place  of  a  sword!  For  shield,  a  beggar's 
scrip !  But  the  bishops  accepted,  and  then  ushered  in 
an  age  of  fraud,  Christian  against  Christian.  .  .  . 
The  knoll  on  which  the  Byzantine  built  his  church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  not  the  Calvary.  That  the 
cowled  liars  call  the  Sepulchre  never  held  the  body 
of  Christ.  The  tears  of  the  millions  of  penitents 
have  but  watered  a  monkish  deceit.  .  .  .  Fools 
and  blasphemers !  The  Via  Dolorosa  led  out  of  the 
Damascus  gate  on  the  north.  The  skull-shaped  hill 
beyond  that  gate  is  the  Golgotha.  Who  should 
know  it  better  than  I  ?  The  Centurion  asked  for  a 
guide;  I  walked  with  him.  Hyssop  was  the  only 
green  thing  growing  upon  the  mount ;  nothing  but 
hyssop  has  grown  there  since.  At  the  base  on  the 
west  was  a  garden,  and  the  Sepulchre  was  in  the 
garden.  From  the  foot  of  the  cross  I  looked  toward 
the  city,  and  there  was  a  sea  of  men  extending  down 
to  the  gate.  ...  I  know ! — I  know ! — I  and  misery 


W 

know!  .  .  .  When  I  went  out  fifty  years  ago 
there  was  an  agreement  between  the  ancient  comba- 
tants ;  each  vied  with  the  other  in  hating  and  perse- 
cuting the  Jew,  and  there  was  no  limit  to  the  afflic- 
tions he  endured  from  them.  .  .  .  Speak  thou, 
O  Hebron,  city  of  the  patriarchs !  By  him  who  sits 
afar,  and  by  him  near  unto  thee,  by  the  stars  this 
peaceful  night,  and  by  the  Everlasting  who  is  above 
the  stars,  be  thou  heard  a  witness  testifying !  There 
was  a  day  when  thou  didst  stand  open  to  the  children 
of  Israel;  for  the  cave  and  the  dead  within  it  be- 
longed to  them.  Then  Herod  built  over  it,  and  shut 
it  up,  though  without  excluding  the  tribes.  The 
Christian  followed  Herod;  yet  the  Hebrew  might 
pay  his  way  in.  After  the  Christian,  the  Moslem; 
and  now  nor  David  the  King,  nor  son  of  his,  though 
they  alighted  at  the  doors  from  chariots,  and  beat 
upon  them  with  their  crowns  and  sceptres,  could  pass 
in  and  live.  .  .  .  Kings  have  come  and  gone,  and 
generations,  and  there  is  a  new  map  from  which  old 
names  have  been  dropped.  As  respects  religion, 
alas!  the  divisions  remain — here  a  Mohammedan, 
there  a  Christian,  yonder  a  Judean.  .  .  .  From 
my  door  I  study  these  men,  the  children  of  those  in 
life  at  my  going  into  exile.  Their  ardor  is  not  di- 
minished. To  kiss  a  stone  in  which  tradition  has 
planted  a  saying  of  God,  they  will  defy  the  terrors 
of  the  Desert,  heat,  thirst,  famine,  disease,  death.  I 
bring  them  an  old  idea  in  a  new  relation — God,  giver 
of  life  and  power  to  Son  and  Prophet — God,  alone 
entitled  to  worship — God,  a  principle  of  Supreme 
Holiness  to  which  believers  can  bring  their  creeds 
and  doctrines  for  mergence  in  a  treaty  of  universal 
brotherhood.  Will  they  accept  it  ?  ...  Yester- 
day I  saw  a  Schiah  and  a  Sunite  meet,  and  the  old 

5 


58 

hate  darkened  their  faces  as  they  looked  at  each 
other.  Between  them  there  is  only  a  feud  of  Islam- 
ites ;  how  much  greater  is  their  feud  with  Christians  ? 
How  immeasurably  greater  the  feud  between  Chris- 
tian and  Jew  ?  My  heart  misgives  me ! 
Lord !  Can  it  be  I  am  but  cherishing  a  dream  ? " 

At  sight  of  a  man  approaching  through  the  dusk, 
he  calmed  himself. 

"Peace  to  thee,  Hadji,"  said  the  visitor,  halting. 

"Is  it  thou,  Shaykh?" 

"  It  is  I,  my  father's  son.    I  have  a  report  to  make." 

"  I  was  thinking  of  certain  holy  things  of  priceless 
worth,  sayings  of  the  Prophet.  Tell  me  what  thou 
hast  ? " 

The  Shaykh  saluted  him,  and  returned,  ' '  The  cara- 
van will  depart  to-morrow  at  sunrise." 

"Be  it  so.  We  are  ready.  I  will  designate  our 
place  in  the  movement.  Thou  art  dismissed." 

" O  Prince!  I  have  more  to  report." 

"More?" 

"A  vessel  came  in  to-day  from  Hormuz  on  the 
eastern  shore,  bringing  a  horde  of  beggars." 

"  Bismillah  !  It  was  well  I  hired  of  thee  a  herd 
of  camels,  and  loaded  them  with  food.  I  shall  pay 
my  fine  to  the  poor  early." 

The  Shaykh  shook  his  head. 

' '  That  they  are  beggars  is  nothing, "  he  said.  ' '  Al- 
lah is  good  to  all  his  creatures.  The  jackals  are  his, 
and  must  be  fed.  For  this  perhaps  the  unfortunates 
were  blown  here  by  the  angel  that  rides  the  yellow 
air.  Four  corpses  were  landed,  and  their  clothes 
sold  in  the  camp." 

"Thou  wouldst  say,"  the  Prince  rejoined,  "that 
the  plague  will  go  with  us  to  the  Kaabah.  Content 
thee,  Shaykh.  Allah  will  have  his  way." 


50 

"  But  my  men  are  afraid." 

"I  will  place  a  drop  of  sweetened  water  on  their 
lips,  and  bring  them  safe  through,  though  they  are 
dying.  Tell  them  as  much." 

The  Shaykh  was  departing  when  the  Prince, 
shrewdly  suspecting  it  was  he  who  feared,  called 
him  hack. 

"  How  call  ye  the  afternoon  prayer,  O  Shaykh  ? " 

"ElAsr." 

"What  didst  thou  when  it  was  called  ?" 

"  Am  I  not  a  believer  ?    I  prayed." 

"  And  thou  hast  heard  the  Arafat  sermon  T  " 

"  Even  so,  O  Prince." 

"Then,  as  thou  art  a  believer,  and  a  hadji,  O 
Shaykh,  thou  and  all  with  thee  shalt  see  the  Khatib 
on  his  dromedary,  and  hear  him  again.  Only  prom- 
ise me  to  stay  till  his  last  Amin." 

"I  promise,"  said  the  Shaykh,  solemnly. 

"  Go — but  remember  prayer  is  the  bread  of  faith." 

The  Shaykh  was  comforted,  and  withdrew. 

With  the  rising  of  the  sun  next  day  the  caravan, 
numbering  about  three  thousand  souls,  denied  con- 
fusedly out  of  the  town.  The  Prince,  who  might 
have  been  first,  of  choice  fell  in  behind  the  rest. 

"Why  dost  thou  take  this  place,  O  Prince?" 
asked  the  Shaykh,  who  was  proud  of  his  company, 
and  their  comparative  good  order. 

He  received  for  answer,  "  The  blessings  of  Allah 
are  with  the  dying  whom  the  well-to-do  and  selfish 
in  front  have  passed  unnoticed." 

The  Shaykh  repeated  the  saying  to  his  men,  and 
they  replied :  "  Ebn-Hanife  was  a  Dervish:  so  is  this 
Prince — exalted  be  his  name !  " 

Eulogy  could  go  no  further. 


CHAPTER  IV 

EL   ZARIBAH 

"I  WILL  be  their  Arbiter  in  Religion,"  said  th« 
Indian  Mystic  in  his  monologue. 

This  is  to  be  accepted  as  the  motive  of  the  scheme 
the  singular  man  was  pursuing  in  the  wastes  of 
Arabia. 

It  must  be  taken  of  course  with  his  other  declara- 
tion— "There  can  be  no  reform  or  refinement  of  faith 
except  God  be  its  exclusive  subject ;  and  so  certainly 
it  leads  to  lopping  off  all  parasitical  worships  such  as 
are  given  to  Christ  and  Mahomet." 

Fifty  years  prior,  disgusted  with  the  endless  and 
inconsequential  debates  and  wars  between  Islam  and 
Christianity,  he  had  betaken  himself  to  Cipango,* 
wherever  that  might  be.  There,  in  a  repentant  hour, 
he  had  conceived  the  idea  of  a  Universal  Religious 
Brotherhood,  with  God  for  its  accordant  principle; 
and  he  was  now  returned  to  present  and  urge  the 
compromise.  In  more  distinct  statement,  he  was 
making  the  pilgrimage  to  ascertain  from  personal  ob- 
servation if  the  Mohammedan  portion  of  the  world 
was  in  a  consenting  mood.  It  was  not  his  first  visit 
to  Mecca ;  but  the  purpose  in  mind  gave  the  journey 
a  new  zest ;  and,  as  can  be  imagined,  nothing  in  the 
least  indicative  of  the  prevalent  spirit  of  the  Hajj 

*  Suppoeably  Japan. 


61 

escaped  him.  Readers  following  the  narrative 
should  keep  this  explanation  before  them. 

From  El  Derayah  the  noble  pilgrim  had  taken  the 
longer  route  by  way  of  Medina,  where  he  scrupu- 
lously performed  the  observances  decreed  for  the 
faithful  at  the  Mosque  of  the  Prophet.  Thence  he 
descended  with  the  caravan  from  Damascus. 

Dawn  of  the  sixth  of  September  broke  over  the 
rolling  plain  known  as  the  Valley  of  El  Zaribah,  dis- 
closing four  tents  pitched  on  an  eminence  to  the 
right  of  a  road  running  thence  south-west.  These 
tents,  connected  by  ropes,  helped  perfect  an  enclosure 
occupied  by  horses,  donkeys,  camels  and  drome- 
daries, and  their  cumbrous  equipments.  Several 
armed  men  kept  watch  over  the  camp. 

The  Valley  out  to  the  pink  granite  hills  rimming 
it  round  wore  a  fresh  green  tint  in  charming  con- 
trast with  the  tawny-black  complexion  of  the  region 
through  which  the  day's  journey  had  stretched. 
Water  at  a  shallow  depth  nourished  camel  grass  in 
patches,  and  Theban  palms,  the  latter  much  scattered 
and  too  small  to  be  termed  trees.  The  water,  and 
the  nearness  of  the  Holy  City — only  one  day  distant 
— had,  in  a  time  long  gone,  won  for  El  Zaribah  its 
double  appointment  of  meeting  place  for  the  cara- 
vans and  place  of  the  final  ceremony  of  assumption 
of  the  costume  and  vows  El  Ihram. 

The  Prophet  himself  had  prescribed  the  ceremony  ; 
so  the  pilgrims  in  the  camp  on  the  eminence,  the  better 
to  observe  it  and  at  the  same  time  get  a  needful  rest, 
had  come  up  during  the  night  in  advance  of  the 
caravans.  In  other  words,  the  Prince  of  India — the 
title  by  which  he  was  now  generally  known — might, 
at  the  opening  hour  of  the  day,  have  been  found 
asleep  in  the  larger  of  the  four  tents ;  the  one  with 


the  minaret  in  miniature  so  handsomely  gilded  and 
of  such  happy  effect  over  the  centre  pole. 

Along  the  roadsides  and  on  the  high  grounds  of 
the  Valley  other  tents  were  visible,  while  faint  col- 
umns of  smoke  arising  out  of  the  hollows  told  of 
preparations  for  breakfast.  These  signified  the  pres- 
ence of  hucksters,  barbers,  costume  dealers,  and 
traders  generally,  who,  in  anticipation  of  the  arrival 
of  the  caravans,  had  come  from  the  city  to  exercise 
their  callings.  Amongst  them,  worthy  of  special 
attention,  was  a  multitude  of  professional  guides,* 
ready  for  a  trifling  hire  to  take  charge  of  uninitiated 
pilgrims,  and  lead  them  regardfully  through  the 
numerous  ceremonies  to  which  they  were  going. 

Shortly  after  noon  the  Prince  called  in  a  guide,  and 
several  barbers,  men  with  long  gowns,  green  tur- 
bans, brass  basins,  sharp  knives,  and  bright  bladed 
scissors.  The  assumption  of  the  real  pilgrimage  by 
his  people  was  then  begun.  Each  man  submitted 
his  head,  mustaches,  and  nails  to  the  experts,  and 
bathed  and  perfumed  himself,  and  was  dusted  with 
musk.  Next  the  whole  party  put  off  their  old  gar- 
ments, and  attired  themselves  in  the  two  white 
vestments  El  Ihram.^  The  change  of  apparel  was 
for  the  better.  Finally  the  votaries  put  on  sandals 
peculiar  in  that  nothing  pertaining  to  them  might 
cover  the  instep ;  then  they  stood  up  in  a  row  faced 
toward  Mecca,  and  repeated  the  ancient  formula  of 
dedication  of  the  Ihram  to  the  Almighty  slowly  in- 
toned for  them  by  the  guide. 

The  solemn  demeanor  of  the  men  during  the  cere- 
mony, which  was  tedious  and  interspersed  with 
prayers  and  curious  recitals,  deeply  impressed  the 

*  Mutaurif. 

t  A  mantle  and  skirt  of  white  cloth  unsewn. 


Prince,  who  at  the  end  of  the  scene  retired  into  his 
tent,  with  his  three  mute  attendants,  and  there  per- 
formed the  vows  for  himself  and  them.  There  also 
they  all  assumed  the  indispensable  costume.  Then, 
as  he  well  might  do,  the  law  permitting  him  to  seek 
the  shade  of  a  house  or  a  tent,  he  had  a  rug  spread 
before  his  door,  where,  in  the  fresh  white  attire,  he 
seated  himself,  and  with  a  jar  of  expressed  juice  of 
pomegranates  at  his  side  made  ready  to  witness  the 
passing  of  the  caravans,  the  dust  of  which  was  re- 
ported visible  in  the  east. 

Afterwhile  the  cloud  of  dust  momentarily  deepen- 
ing over  in  that  direction  was  enlivened  by  a  clash 
of  cymbals  and  drums,  blent  with  peals  of  horns, 
the  fine,  high  music  yet  cherished  by  warriors  of  the 
Orient.  Presently  a  body  of  horsemen  appeared, 
their  spear  points  glistening  in  the  sunlight.  A 
glance  at  them,  then  his  gaze  fixed  upon  a  chief  in 
leading. 

The  sun  had  been  hot  all  day;  the  profiles  of 
the  low  hills  were  dim  with  tremulous  haze  lying 
scorchingly  upon  them;  the  furred  hulks  of  the 
camels  in  the  enclosure  looked  as  if  they  were  smok- 
ing; the  sky  held  nothing  living  except  two  kites 
which  sailed  the  upper  air  slowly,  their  broad  wings 
at  widest  extension ;  yet  the  chief  persisted  in  wear- 
ing his  arms  and  armor,  like  the  soldiers  behind 
him.  Ere  long  he  rode  up  and  halted  in  front  of 
the  Prince,  and  near  by. 

His  head  was  covered  with  a  visorless  casque, 
slightly  conical,  from  the  edge  of  which,  beginning 
about  the  temples,  a  cape  of  fine  steel  rings,  buckled 
under  the  chin,  enveloped  the  neck  and  throat,  and 
fell  loosely  over  the  neck  and  shoulders,  and  part 
wav  down  the  back.  A  shirt  of  linked  mail,  pliable 


64 

as  wool,  defended  the  body  and  the  arms  to  the 
elbows ;  overalls  of  like  material,  save  that  the  parts 
next  the  saddle  were  leather,  clothed  the  thighs  and 
legs.  As  the  casque  and  every  other  link  of  the  mail 
were  plated  with  gold,  the  general  effect  at  a  dis- 
tance was  as  if  the  whole  suit  were  gold.  A  surcoat 
of  light  green  cloth  hung  at  the  back  half  hiding  a 
small  round  shield  of  burnished  brass;  at  the  left 
side  there  was  a  cimeter,  and  in  the  right  hand  a 
lance.  The  saddle  was  of  the  high-seated  style  yet 
affected  by  horsemen  of  Circassia ;  at  the  pommel  a 
bow  and  well-filled  quiver  were  suspended,  and  as 
the  stirrups  were  in  fact  steel  slippers  the  feet  were 
amply  protected  by  them. 

At  sight  of  the  martial  figure,  the  Indian,  in  admi- 
ration, arose  to  a  sitting  posture.  Such,  he  thought, 
were  the  warriors  who  followed  Saladin !  And  when 
the  stranger,  reaching  the  summit  of  the  eminence, 
turned  out  of  the  road  coming  apparently  to  the 
door  of  the  tent,  he  involuntarily  sprang  to  his  feet 
ready  to  do  him  honor. 

The  face,  then  plainly  seen,  though  strong  of  feat- 
ure, and  thoroughly  bronzed,  was  that  of  a  young 
man  not  more  than  twenty-two  or  three,  dark-eyed, 
mustached  and  bearded,  and  of  a  serious  though 
pleasant  expression.  He  kept  his  seat  with  ease  and 
grace;  if  he  and  the  broad-chested  dark-bay  horse 
were  not  really  one,  they  were  one  in  spirit ;  together 
they  wrought  the  impression  which  was  the  origin  of 
majesty,  a  title  for  kings. 

While  the  Prince  was  turning  this  in  his  mind,  the 
soldier  pulled  rein,  and  stopped  long  enough  to  glance 
at  him  and  at  the  camp;  then,  turning  the  horse, 
he  looked  the  other  way,  making  it  apparent  he 
had  taken  position  on  the  rise  to  overlook  the  plain, 


and  observe  the  coming  and  dispersion  of  the  cara- 
vans. 

Another  mounted  man  ascended  the  hill,  armed 
and  armored  like  the  first  one,  though  not  so  richly, 
and  bearing  a  standard  of  dulled  yellow  silk  hanging 
from  a  gilded  staff.  The  ground  of  the  standard  was 
filled  with  inscriptions  in  red  lettering,  leaving  the 
golden  crescent  and  star  on  the  point  of  the  staff  to 
speak  of  nationality.  The  bearer  of  the  flag  dis- 
mounted, and  at  a  sign  planted  it  in  the  ground. 

Seeing  his  Shaykh,  the  Prince  called  him : 

' '  Who  is  the  warrior  yonder  ? — He  in  the  golden 
armor  ? " 

"The  Emir  El  Hajj,*  O  Prince." 

"He  the  Emir  El  Hajj  !— And  so  young  ?— Oh  1  a 
hero  of  the  Serail.  The  Kislar  Aga  extolled  him  one 
day." 

"Thy  remark  and  common  report,  O  excellent 
Prince,  could  not  journey  together  on  the  same 
camel,"  said  the  Shaykh.  "  In  the  Khan  at  Medina 
I  heard  his  story.  There  is  a  famous  enemy  of  the 
Turks,  Iskander  Bey,  in  strength  a  Jinn,  whose 
sword  two  men  can  scarcely  lift.  He  appeared  be- 
fore the  army  of  the  Sultan  one  day  with  a  challenge. 
He  whom  thou  seest  yonder  alone  dared  go  forth  to 
meet  him.  They  fought  from  morning  till  noon; 
then  they  rested.  '  Who  art  thou  ? '  asked  Iskander. 
'  I  am  a  slave  of  Amurath,  the  Commander  of  the 
Faithful,  who  hath  commissioned  me  to  take  thee  to 
him  dead  or  alive.'  Iskander  laughed,  and  said,  'I 
know  by  thy  tongue  now  thou  art  not  a  Turk ;  and 
to  see  if  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  as  thou 
callest  him,  hath  it  in  soul  to  make  much  of  thy 

*  Ckief  officer  of  the  Pilgrimage.  The  appointment  was  considered  th« 
highest  favor  in  the  Sultan's  gift 

1 


66 

merit  as  a  warrior,  I  will  leave  thee  the  honors  of 
the  combat,  and  to  go  thy  way.'  Whereat  they  say 
he  lifted  his  ponderous  hlade  as  not  heavier  than  the 
leaf  of  a  dead  palm,  and  strode  from  the  field." 

The  Prince  listened,  and  at  the  end  said,  like  a 
man  in  haste : 

"Thou  knowest  Nilo,  my  black  man.  Bring  him 
hither." 

The  Shaykh  saluted  gravely,  and  hurried  away, 
leaving  his  patron  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  Emir,  and 
muttering : 

"So  young! — and  in  such  favor  with  the  old  Am- 
urath !  I  will  know  him.  If  I  fail,  he  may  be  use- 
ful to  me.  Who  knows  ?  Who  knows  ? " 

He  looked  upward  as  if  speaking  to  some  one  there. 

Meantime  the  Emir  was  questioning  the  ensign. 

"  This  pilgrim."  he  said,  "  appears  well  provided." 

And  the  ensign  answered: 

"He  is  the  Indian  Prince  of  whom  I  have  been 
hearing  since  we  left  Medina." 

"What  hast  thou  heard  ? " 

"  That  being  rich,  he  is  open-handed,  making  free 
with  his  aspers  as  sowers  with  their  seed." 

"What  more?" 

"  He  is  devout  and  learned  as  an  Imam.  His  peo- 
ple call  him  Malik.  Of  the  prayers  he  knows  every- 
thing. As  the  hours  arrive,  he  lifts  the  curtains  of 
his  litter,  and  calls  them  with  a  voice  like  Belal's. 
The  students  in  the  mosque  would  expire  of  envy 
could  they  see  him  bend  his  back  in  the  benedic- 
tions." 

"  Bismillah  !  " 

"  They  say  also  that  in  the  journey  from  El  Katif 
to  Medina  he  travelled  behind  the  caravan  when  he 
might  have  been  first." 


«7 

"  I  see  not  the  virtue  in  that.  The  hill-men  love 
best  to  attack  the  van." 

"Tell  me,  O  Emir,  which  wouldst  thou  rather 
face,  a  hill-man  or  the  Yellow  Air  ?  " 

"The  hill-man,"  said  the  other  decidedly. 

"And  thou  knowest  when  those  in  front  abandon 
a  man  struck  with  the  disease  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"And  then?" 

"  The  vultures  and  the  jackals  have  their  rights." 

"True,  O  Emir,  but  listen.  The  caravan  left  El 
Katif  three  thousand  strong.  Three  hundred  and 
more  were  struck  with  the  plague,  and  left  to  die ;  of 
those,  over  one  hundred  were  brought  in  by  the 
Indian.  They  say  it  was  for  this  he  preferred  to 
march  in  the  rear.  He  himself  teaches  a  saying  of 
the  Hadis,  that  Allah  leaves  his  choicest  blessings  to 
be  gathered  from  amidst  the  poor  and  the  dying." 

"  If  he  thou  describest  be  not  a  Prince  of  India  as 
he  claims,  he  is  a" — 

"  A  Mashaikh."  * 

"  Ay,  by  the  Most  Merciful !  But  how  did  he  save 
the  castaways  ? " 

"By  a  specific  known  only  to  kings  and  lords  in 
his  country.  Can  he  but  reach  the  plague-struck 
before  death,  a  drop  on  the  tongue  will  work  a  cure. 
Thou  heardst  what  he  did  at  Medina  ?  " 

"No." 

"  The  Masjid  El  Nabawif  as  thou  knowest,  O  Emir, 
hath  many  poor  who  somehow  live  in  its  holy 
shade." 

"I  know  it,"  said  the  Emir,  with  a  laugh.  "I 
went  into  the  house  rich,  and  came  out  of  it  poorer 

•  Holier  than  a  Dervish. 
t  Tomb  of  the  Prophet 


68 

than  the  poorest  of  the  many  who  fell  upon  me  at 
the  doors." 

"Well,"  the  ensign  continued,  not  heeding  the  in- 
terruption, "he  called  them  in,  and  fed  them;  not 
with  rice,  and  leeks,  and  bread  ten  days  sour,  but 
with  dishes  to  rejoice  a  Kaliph ;  and  they  went  away 
swearing  the  soul  of  the  Prophet  was  returned  to  the 
world." 

At  this  juncture  a  troop  of  horsemen  ascending  the 
hill  brought  the  conversation  to  a  stop.  The  uni- 
formity of  arms  and  armor,  the  furniture  of  the 
steeds,  the  order  and  regularity  of  the  general  move- 
ment, identified  the  body  as  some  favorite  corps  of 
the  Turkish  army;  while  the  music,  the  bristling 
lances,  the  many-folded  turbans,  and  the  half-petti- 
coated  trousers  threw  about  it  a  glamor  of  purest 
orientalism. 

In  the  midst  of  the  troop,  a  vanguard  in  front,  a 
rearguard  behind  them,  central  objects  of  care  and 
reverence,  moved  the  sacred  camels,  tall,  powerful 
brutes,  more  gigantic  in  appearance  because  of  their 
caparisoning  and  the  extraordinary  burdens  they 
bore.  They  too  were  in  full  regalia,  their  faces 
visored  in  silk  and  gold,  their  heads  resplendent 
with  coronets  of  drooping  feathers,  their  ample  neck 
cloths  heavy  with  tasselled  metallic  fringing  falling 
to  the  knees.  Each  one  was  covered  with  a  mantle 
of  brocaded  silk  arranged  upon  a  crinoline  form  to 
give  the  effect  somewhat  of  the  curved  expansion  on 
the  rim  of  a  bell.  On  the  humps  rose  pavilions  of 
silk  in  flowing  draperies,  on  some  of  which  the  entire 
Fdtihah  was  superbly  embroidered.  Over  the  pavil- 
ions arose  enormous  aigrettes  of  green  and  black 
feathers.  Such  were  the  mdhmals,  containing, 
among  other  things  of  splendor  and  fabulous  value, 


the  Kiswah  which  the  Sultan  was  forwarding  to 
the  Scherif  of  Mecca  to  take  the  place  of  the  worn 
curtains  then  draping  the  Tabernacle  or  House  of 
God. 

The  plumed  heads  of  the  camels,  and  the  yet  more 
richly  plumed  pavilions,  exalted  high  above  the 
horsemen,  moved  like  things  afloat.  One  may  not 
tell  what  calamities  to  body  and  soul  would  over- 
take the  Emir  El  Hajj  did  he  fail  to  deliver  the 
mahmals  according  to  consignment. 

While  the  cavalry  came  up  the  hill  the  musicians 
exerted  themselves;  at  the  top,  the  column  turned 
and  formed  line  left  of  the  Emir,  followed  by  strings 
of  camels  loaded  with  military  properties,  and  a 
horde  of  camp-followers  known  as  farrash.  Pres- 
ently another  camp  was  reared  upon  the  eminence, 
its  white  roofs  shining  afar  over  the  plain,  and  in 
their  midst  one  of  unusual  dimensions  for  the  Sul- 
tan's gifts. 

The  caravans  in  the  meantime  began  to  emerge 
from  the  dun  cloud  of  their  own  raising,  and  spread 
at  large  over  the  land;  and  when  the  young  Emir 
was  most  absorbed  in  the  spectacle  the  Prince's 
Shaykh  approached  him. 

"O  Emir!  "  the  Arab  said,  after  a  salaam. 

A  wild  fanfare  of  clarions,  cymbals,  and  drums 
drowning  his  voice,  he  drew  nearer,  almost  to  the 
stirrup. 

"  O  Emir !  "  he  said  again. 

This  time  he  was  heard. 

"What  wouldst  thou  ? " 

There  was  the  slightest  irritation  in  the  tone,  and 
on  the  countenance  of  the  speaker  as  he  looked  down ; 
but  the  feeling  behind  it  vanished  at  sight  of  a  negro 
whose  native  blackness  was  intensified  by  the  spot- 


70 

less  white  of  the  Ihram  in  which  he  was  clad.  Per- 
haps the  bright  platter  of  beaten  copper  the  black 
man  bore,  and  the  earthen  bottle  upon  it,  flanked  by 
two  cups,  one  of  silver,  the  other  of  crystal,  had 
something  to  do  with  the  Emir's  change  of  manner 
and  mind. 

"What  wouldst  thou  ?"  he  asked,  slightly  bending 
towards  them. 

The  Shaykh  answered: 

"The  most  excellent  Hadji,  my  patron,  whom  thou 
mayst  see  reclining  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  sends  thee 
greeting  such  as  is  lawful  from  one  true  believer  to 
another  travelling  for  the  good  of  their  souls  to  the 
most  Holy  of  Cities ;  and  he  prays  thou  wilt  accept 
from  him  a  draught  of  this  water  of  pomegranates, 
which  he  vouches  cooling  to  the  tongue  and  health- 
ful to  the  spirit,  since  he  bought  it  at  the  door  of  the 
House  of  the  Prophet — to  whom  be  prayer  and  praise 
forever." 

During  the  speech,  the  negro,  with  a  not  unprac- 
tised hand,  and  conscious  doubtless  of  the  persuasion 
there  was  in  the  sound  and  sparkle  of  the  beverage, 
especially  to  one  not  yet  dismounted  from  a  long  ride 
on  the  desert,  filled  the  cups,  and  held  them  up  for 
acceptance. 

Stripping  the  left  hand  of  its  steel-backed  gauntlet, 
the  Emir  lifted  the  glass,  and,  with  a  bow  to  the 
pilgrim  then  arisen  and  standing  by  the  tent-door, 
drank  it  at  a  draught;  whereupon,  leaving  the  en- 
sign to  pay  like  honor  to  the  offered  hospitality,  he 
wheeled  his  horse,  and  rode  to  make  acknowledg- 
ment in  person. 

"The  favor  thou  hast  done  me,  O  Hadji,"  he 
said,  dismounted,  "is  in  keeping  with  the  acts  of 
mercy  to  thy  fellow-men  with  which  I  hear  thou  hast 


7i 

paved  the  road  from  El  Katif  as  with  mother-of- 
pearl." 

"Speak  not  of  them,  I  pray,"  the  Wanderer  an- 
swered, returning  the  bow  he  received.  "Who  shall 
refuse  obedience  to  the  law  ? " 

"I  see  plainly  thou  art  a  good  man,"  the  Emir 
said,  bowing  again. 

"  It  would  not  become  me  to  say  so.  Turning  to 
something  better,  this  tent  in  the  wilderness  is  mine, 
and  as  the  sun  is  not  declined  to  its  evening  quarter, 
perhaps,  O  gallant  Emir,  it  would  be  more  to  thy 
comfort  were  we  to  go  within.  I,  and  all  I  have,  are 
at  thy  command." 

"I  am  grateful  for  the  offer,  most  excellent  Hadji 
— if  the  address  be  lower  than  thy  true  entitlement, 
thou  shouldst  bring  the  Shaykh  yonder  to  account 
for  misleading  a  stranger — but  the  sun  and  I  have 
become  unmindful  of  each  other,  and  duty  is  always 
the  same  in  its  demands  at  least.  Here,  because  the 
valley  is  the  micath,*  the  caravans  are  apt  to  run 
wild,  and  need  a  restraining  hand.  I  plead  the  cir- 
cumstance in  excuse  for  presuming  to  request  that 
thou  wilt  allow  me  to  amend  thy  offer  of  courtesy." 

The  Emir  paused,  waiting  for  the  permission. 

' '  So  thou  dost  accept  the  offer,  amend  it  as  thou 
wilt,"  and  the  Prince  smiled. 

Then  the  other  returned,  with  evident  satisfaction : 
' '  When  our  brethren  of  the  caravans  are  settled,  and 
the  plain  is  quiet,  and  I  too  have  taken  the  required 
vows,  I  will  return  to  thee.  My  quarters  are  so  close 
to  thine  it  would  please  me  to  be  allowed  to  come 
alone." 

"Granted,  O  Emir,  granted — if,  on  thy  side,  thou 
wilt  consent  to  permit  me  to  give  thee  of  the  fare  I 

•Meeting  place. 


72 

may  yet  have  at  disposal.  I  can  promise  thou  shalt 
&ot  go  away  hungry." 

"Be  it  so." 

Thereupon  the  Emir  remounted,  and  went  back  to 
his  stand  overlooking  the  plain,  and  the  coming  of 
the  multitude. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE   PASSING   OF  THE   CARAVANS 

FROM  his  position  the  Wanderer  could  see  the  ad- 
vancing caravans;  but  as  the  spectacle  would  con- 
sume the  afternoon,  he  called  his  three  attendants, 
and  issued  directions  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
Emir  in  the  evening;  this  done,  he  cast  himself  upon, 
the  rug,  and  gave  rein  to  his  curiosity,  thinking,  not 
unreasonably,  to  find  in  what  would  pass  before  him 
something  bearing  on  the  subject  ever  present  in  his 
mind. 

The  sky  could  not  be  called  blue  of  any  tint ;  it 
seemed  rather  to  be  filled  with  common  dust  mixed 
with  powder  of  crushed  brick.  The  effect  was  of  a 
semi-transparent  ceiling  flushed  with  heat  from  the 
direct  down-beating  action  of  the  sun,  itself  a  disk 
of  flame.  Low  mountains,  purplish  black  in  hue, 
made  a  horizon  on  which  the  ceiling  appeared  set, 
like  the  crystal  in  the  upper  valve  of  a  watch.  Thus 
shut  in,  but  still  fair  to  view  east  and  south  of  the 
position  the  spectator  occupied,  lay  El  Zaribah, 
whither,  as  the  appointed  meeting  place,  so  many 
pilgrims  had  for  days  and  weeks  ever  wearier 
growing  been  "walking  with  their  eyes."  In  their 
thought  the  Valley  was  not  so  much  a  garden  or 
landscape  of  beauty  as  an  ante-chamber  of  the 
House  of  Allah.  As  they  neared  it  now,  journey- 
ing since  the  break  of  day,  impatience  seized  them ; 


74 

so  when  the  cry  sped  down  the  irregular  column — 
"  It  is  here !  It  is  here ! "  they  answered  with  a  uni- 
versal labbayaki,  signifying,  "  Thou  hast  called  us 
• — here  we  are,  here  we  are !  "  Then  breaking  into  a 
rabble,  they  rushed  multitudinously  forward. 

To  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  pageant  advanc- 
ing to  possess  itself  of  the  Valley,  it  will  be  well  to 
refresh  his  memory  with  a  few  details.  He  should 
remember,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  was  not  merely 
the  caravan  which  left  El  Ka,tif  over  on  the  western 
shore  of  the  Green  Sea,  but  two  great  caravans 
merged  into  one — El  Shemi,  from  Damascus,  and 
Misri,  from  Cairo.  To  comprehend  these,  the  region 
they  drained  of  pilgrims  should  be  next  considered. 
For  example,  at  Cairo  there  was  a  concentration 
from  the  two  Egypts,  Upper  and  Lower,  from  the 
mysterious  deserts  of  Africa,  and  from  the  cities  and 
countries  along  the  southern  shore  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean far  as  Gibraltar;  while  the  whole  East,  using 
the  term  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense,  emptied 
contingents  of  the  devout  into  Damascus.  In  for- 
warding the  myriads  thus  poured  down  upon  them 
the  Arabs  were  common  carriers,  like  the  Venetians 
to  the  hordes  of  western  Europe  in  some  of  the  later 
crusades ;  so  to  their  thousands  of  votaries  proper,  the 
other  thousands  of  them  engaged  in  the  business  are 
also  to  be  computed.  El  Medina  was  the  great  sec- 
ondary rendezvous.  Hardly  could  he  be  accounted 
of  the  Faithful  who  in  making  the  pilgrimage  would 
turn  his  back  upon  the  bones  of  the  Prophet ;  of 
such  merit  was  the  saying,  "  One  prayer  in  this  thy 
mosque  is  of  more  virtue  than  a  thousand  in  other 
places,  save  only  the  Masjid  El  Haram."  Once  at 
Medina,  how  could  the  pilgrim  refuse  his  presence, 
if  not  his  tears,  at  El  Kuba,  forever  sacred  to  the 


75 

Mohammedan  heart  as  the  first  place  of  public 
prayer  in  Islam  ?  Finally,  it  should  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  the  year  we  write  of  belonged  to  a  cycle 
when  readers  of  the  Koran  and  worshippers  at 
Mecca  were  more  numerous  than  now,  if  not  more 
zealous  and  believing.  And  it  was  to  witness  the 
passing  of  this  procession,  so  numerous,  so  motley, 
so  strangely  furnished,  so  uncontrolled  except  as  it 
pleased,  the  Prince  of  India  was  seated  at  the  door 
of  his  tent  upon  the  hill.  Long  before  the  spec- 
tacle was  sighted  in  the  distance,  its  approach  was 
announced  by  an  overhanging  pillar  of  cloud,  not 
unlike  that  which  went  before  the  Israelites  in  their 
exodus  through  similar  wastes.  Shortly  after  the 
interview  with  the  Emir,  the  Prince,  looking  under 
the  pillar,  saw  a  darkening  line  appear,  not  more 
at  first  than  a  thread  stretched  across  a  section  of 
the  east. 

The  apparition  was  without  a  break ;  nor  might  he 
have  said  it  was  in  motion  or  of  any  depth.  A  sound 
came  from  the  direction  not  unlike  that  of  a  sibilant 
wind.  Presently  out  of  the  perspective,  which  re- 
duced the  many  to  one  and  all  sizes  to  a  level,  the 
line  developed  into  unequal  divisions,  with  intervals 
between  them ;  about  the  same  time  the  noise  became 
recognizable  as  the  voices  fiercely  strained  and  inar- 
ticulate of  an  innumerable  host  of  men.  Then  the 
divisions  broke  into  groups,  some  larger  than  others ; 
a  little  later  individuals  became  discernible ;  finally 
what  had  appeared  a  line  resolved  itself  into  a  con- 
vulsing mass,  without  front,  without  wings,  but  of 
a  depth  immeasurable. 

The  pilgrims  did  not  attempt  to  keep  the  road; 
having  converted  their  march  into  a  race,  they 
spread  right  and  left  over  the  country,  each  seeking 


76 

a  near  way;  sometimes  the  object  was  attained, 
sometimes  not ;  the  end  was  a  confusion  beyond  de- 
scription .  The  very  inequalities  of  the  ground  helped 
the  confusion.  A  group  was  one  moment  visible  on 
a  height ;  then  it  vanished  in  a  hollow.  Now  there 
were  thousands  on  a  level ;  then,  as  if  sinking,  they 
went  down,  down,  and  presently  where  they  were 
there  was  only  dust  or  a  single  individual. 

Afterwhile,  so  wide  was  the  inrolling  tide,  the  field 
of  vision  overflowed,  and  the  eye  was  driven  to  rang- 
ing from  point  to  point,  object  to  object.  Then  it 
was  discernible  that  the  mass  was  mixed  of  animals 
and  men — here  horses,  there  camels — some  with 
riders,  some  without — all,  the  burdened  as  well  as 
unburdened,  straining  forward  under  urgency  of 
shriek  and  stick — forward  for  life — forward  as  if  of 
the  two  "comforts,"  Success  beckoned  them  in  front, 
and  Despair  behind  plied  them  with  spears.* 

At  length  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Valley  was 
reached.  There  one  would  suppose  the  foremost  of 
the  racers,  the  happy  victors,  would  rest  or,  at  their 
leisure,  take  of  the  many  sites  those  they  preferred  ; 
but  no — the  penalty  attaching  to  the  triumph  was 
the  danger  of  being  run  down  by  the  thousands 
behind.  In  going  on  there  was  safety — and  on  they 
went. 

To  this  time  the  spectacle  had  been  a  kind  of  pan- 
oramic generality;  now  the  details  came  to  view, 
and  accustomed  as  he  was  to  marvels  of  pageantry, 
the  Prince  exclaimed:  "These  are  not  men,  but 
devils  fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  God!"  and  invol- 
untarily he  went  nearer,  down  to  the  brink  of  the 
height.  It  seemed  the  land  was  being  inundated 

*  In  the  philosophy  of  the  Arabs  Success  and  Despair  are  treated  aa 
comforts. 


n 

with  camels ;  not  the  patient  brutes  we  are  used  to 
thinking  of  by  that  name,  with  which  domestication 
means  ill-treatment  and  suffering — the  slow-going 
burden-bearers,  always  appealing  to  our  sympathy 
because  always  apparently  tired,  hungry,  sleepy, 
worn-out — always  reeling  on  as  if  looking  for  quiet 
places  in  which  to  slip  their  loads  of  whatever  kind, 
and  lie  down  and  die;  but  the  camel  aroused,  en- 
raged, frightened,  panic-struck,  rebellious,  sending 
forth  strange  cries,  and  running  with  all  its  might 
— an  army  of  camels  hurling  their  gigantic  hulks 
along  at  a  rate  little  less  than  blind  impetus.  And 
they  went,  singly,  and  in  strings,  and  yonder  a 
mass.  The  slower,  and  those  turned  to  the  right  or 
left  of  the  direct  course,  and  all  such  as  had  hesi- 
:  tated  upon  coming  to  a  descent,  were  speedily  dis- 
.  tanced  or  lost  to  sight;  so  the  ensemble  was  con- 
stantly shifting.  And  then  the  rolling  and  tossing 
of  the  cargoes  and  packages  on  the  backs  of  the 
animals,  and  the  streaming  out  of  curtains,  scarfs, 
shawls,  and  loose  draperies  of  every  shape  and  color, 
lent  touches  of  drollery  and  bright  contrasts  to  the 
scene.  One  instant  the  spectator  on  the  hill  was 
disposed  to  laugh,  then  to  admire,  then  to  shiver  at 
the  immensity  of  a  danger;  over  and  over  again 
amidst  his  quick  variation  of  feeling,  he  repeated  the 
exclamation:  "These  are  not  men,  but  devils  fleeing 
from  the  wrath  of  God ! " 

Such  was  the  spectacle  in  what  may  be  called  the 
second  act ;  presently  it  reached  a  third ;  and  then  the 
fury  of  the  movement,  so  inconsistent  with  the  hab- 
its and  patient  nature  of  the  camel,  was  explained. 
In  the  midst  of  the  hurly-burly,  governing  and  di- 
recting it,  were  horsemen,  an  army  of  themselves. 
Some  rode  in  front,  and  the  leading  straps  on  which 


78 

they  pulled  with  the  combined  strength  of  man  and 
horse  identified  them  as  drivers ;  others  rode  as  assist- 
ants of  the  drivers,  and  they  were  armed  with  goads 
which  they  used  skilfully  and  without  mercy.  There 
were  many  collisions,  upsets,  and  entanglements; 
yet  the  danger  did  not  deter  the  riders  from  sharing 
the  excitement,  and  helping  it  forward  to  their  ut- 
most. They  too  used  knotted  ropes,  and  stabbed  with 
sharpened  sticks;  they  also  contributed  to  the  un- 
earthly tumult  of  sounds  which  travelled  with  the 
mob,  a  compound  of  prayers,  imprecations,  and  sense- 
less screams — the  medley  that  may  be  occasionally 
heard  from  a  modern  mad-house. 

In  the  height  of  the  rush  the  Shaykh  came  up. 

"  How  long,"  said  the  Prince — "  in  the  Prophet's 
name,  how  long  will  this  endure  ? " 

"Till  night,  0  most  excellent  Hadji — if  the  cara- 
vans be  so  long  in  coming." 

"Is  it  usual?" 

"  It  has  been  so  from  the  beginning." 

Thereupon  the  curiosity  of  the  Prince  took  another 
turn.  A  band  of  horsemen  galloped  into  view — free 
riders,  with  long  lances  carried  upright,  their  caftans 
flying,  and  altogether  noble  looking. 

' '  These  are  Arabs.  I  know  by  their  horses  and  their 
bearing,"  said  he,  with  admiration;  "but  possibly 
thou  canst  give  me  the  name  of  their  tribe." 

The  Shaykh  answered  with  pride:  "Their horses 
are  gray,  and  by  the  sign,  O  lover  of  the  Prophet, 
they  are  of  the  Beni-Yarb.  Every  other  one  of  them 
is  a  poet ;  in  the  face  of  an  enemy,  they  are  all  war- 
riors." 

The  camps  on  the  hill,  with  the  yellow  flag  giving 
notice  of  the  Emir's  station,  had  effect  upon  others 
besides  the  Yarbis  ;  all  who  wished  to  draw  out  of 


the  melange  turned  towards  them,  bringing  the  spec- 
tacle in  part  to  the  very  feet  of  the  Wanderer ;  whereat 
he  thought  with  a  quicker  beating  of  the  heart,  ' '  The 
followers  of  the  Prophet  are  coming  to  show  me  of 
what  they  are  this  day  composed."  Then  he  said  to 
the  Shaykh,  "  Stand  thou  here,  and  tell  me  as  I  shall 
ask." 

The  conversation  between  them  may  be  thus  sum- 
marized : 

The  current  which  poured  past  then,  its  details  in 
perfect  view,  carried  along  with  it  all  the  conditions 
and  nationalities  of  the  pilgrimage.  Natives  of  the 
desert  on  bare-backed  camels,  clinging  to  the  humps 
with  one  hand,  while  they  pounded  with  the  other — 
natives  on  beautiful  horses,  not  needing  whip  or 
spur — natives  on  dromedaries  so  swift,  sure-footed, 
and  strong  there  was  no  occasion  for  fear.  Men,  and 
often  women  and  children,  on  ragged  saddle-cloths, 
others  in  pretentious  boxes,  and  now  and  then  a 
person  whose  wealth  and  rank  were  published  by  the 
magnificence  of  the  litter  in  which  he  was  borne, 
swinging  luxuriously  between  long-stepping  drome- 
daries from  El  Shark. 

" By  Allah ! "  the  Prince  exclaimed.  "Here  hath 
barbarism  its  limit !  Behold !  " 

They  of  whom  he  spoke  came  up  in  irregular  array 
mounted  on  dromedaries  without  housing.  At  their 
head  rode  one  with  a  white  lettered  green  flag,  and 
beating  an  immense  drum.  They  were  armed  with 
long  spears  of  Indian  bamboo,  garnished  below  the 
slender  points  with  swinging  tufts  of  ostrich  feathers. 
Each  carried  a  woman  behind  him  disdainful  of  a 
veil.  The  feminine  screams  of  exultation  rose  high 
above  the  yells  of  the  men,  helping  not  a  little  to 
the  recklessness  with  which  the  latter  bore  onward. 


80 

Woe  to  such  in  their  way  as  were  poorly  mounted! 
In  a  twinkling  they  were  ridden  down.  Nor  did 
those  fare  better  who  were  overtaken  struggling  with 
a  string  of  camels.  The  crash  of  bursting  boxes,  the 
sharp  report  of  rending  ropes,  the  warning  cry,  the 
maddening  cheer ;  a  battle  of  men,  another  of  beasts 
— and  when  the  collision  had  passed,  the  earth  was 
etrewn  with  its  wreck. 

"  They  are  Wahabbas,  O  Hadji,"  said  the  Shaykh. 
"Thou  seest  the  tufts  on  their  spears.  Under  them 
they  carry  Jehannum." 

"And  these  now  coming?"  asked  the  Prince. 
"  Their  long  white  hats  remind  me  of  Persia." 

"Persians  they  are,"  replied  the  Shaykh,  his  lip 
curling,  his  eyes  gleaming.  "They  will  tear  their 
clothes,  and  cut  their  shaven  crowns,  and  wail, 
'  Woe's  me,  O  Ali  1 '  then  kiss  the  Kaaba  with  defile- 
ment on  their  beards.  The  curse  of  the  Shaykaim 
is  on  them — may  it  stay  there  !  " 

Then  the  Prince  knew  it  was  a  Sunite  speaking  of 
Schiahs. 

Yet  others  of  the  Cafila  of  Bagdad  passed  with  the 
despised  sons  of  Iran;  notably  Deccanese,  Hindoos, 
Afghans,  and  people  from  the  Himalayas,  and  be- 
yond them  far  as  Kathay,  and  China,  and  Siam,  all 
better  known  to  the  Prince  than  to  his  Shaykh,  who 
spoke  of  them,  saying,  ' '  Thou  shouldst  know  thine 
own,  O  Hadji !  Thou  art  their  father !  " 

Next,  in  a  blending  that  permitted  no  choice  of 
associates,  along  swept  the  chief  constituents  of  the 
caravans — Moors  and  Blackamoors,  Egyptians,  Syri- 
ans, Turks,  Kurds,  Caucasians,  and  Arabs  of  every 
tribe,  each  a  multitude  of  themselves,  and  their 
passing  filled  up  the  afternoon. 

Towards  sundown  the  hurry  and  rush  of  the  move- 


81 

merit  perceptibly  slackened.  Over  in  the  west  there 
were  signs  of  a  halt;  tents  were  rising,  and  the 
smoke  of  multiplying  fires  began  to  deepen  the  blue 
of  the  distance.  It  actually  appeared  as  if  settlement 
for  the  night  would  creep  back  upon  the  east,  whence 
the  irruption  had  burst. 

At  a  moment  when  the  Prince's  interest  in  the 
scene  was  commencing  to  flag,  and  he  was  thinking 
of  returning  to  his  tent,  the  rearmost  divisions  of  the 
pilgrims  entered  the  Valley.  They  were  composed  of 
footmen  and  donkey-riders,  for  whom  the  speed  of 
the  advance  bodies  had  been  too  great.  High-capped 
Persians,  and  Turks  whose  turbans  were  reduced  to 
faded  fezes,  marched  in  the  van,  followed  closely  by 
a  rabble  of  Takruris,  ragged,  moneyless,  living  upon 
meat  of  abandoned  animals.  Last  of  all  were  the 
sick  and  dying,  who  yet  persisted  in  dragging  their 
fainting  limbs  along  as  best  they  could.  Might  they 
but  reach  the  Holy  City !  Then  if  they  died  it  would 
be  as  martyrs  for  whom  the  doors  of  Paradise  are  al- 
ways open.  With  them,  expectants  of  easy  prey, 
like  the  rakham  *  sailing  in  slow  circles  overhead, 
flocked  the  beggars,  thieves,  outcasts  and  assassins; 
but  night  came  quickly,  and  covered  them,  and  all 
the  things  they  did,  for  evil  and  night  have  been 
partners  from  the  beginning. 

At  last  the  Prince  returned  to  his  tent.  He  had 
seen  the  sun  set  over  El  Zaribah;  he  had  seen  the 
passing  of  the  caravans.  Out  there  in  the  Valley  they 
lay.  They — to  him,  and  for  his  purposes,  the  Moham- 
medan world  unchanged — the  same  in  composition, 
in  practice,  in  creed — only  he  felt  now  a  consciousness 
of  understanding  them  as  never  before.  Mahomet, 
in  his  re-introduction  of  God  to  man,  had  imposed 

*  Vulture*. 


82 

himself  upon  their  faith,  its  master  idea,  its  central 
figure,  the  superior  in  sanctity,  the  essential  condi- 
tion— the  ONE  !  Knowingly  or  unknowingly,  he  left 
a  standard  of  religious  excellence  behind  him — Him- 
self. And  by  that  standard  the  thief  in  the  wake  of 
the  mighty  caravans  robbing  the  dead,  the  Thug 
strangling  a  victim  because  he  was  too  slow  in 
dying,  were  worthy  Paradise,  and  would  attain  it, 
for  they  believed  in  him.  Faith  in  the  Prophet  of 
God  was  more  essential  than  faith  in  God.  Such 
was  the  inspiration  of  Islam.  A  sinking  of  spirit 
fell  upon  the  unhappy  man.  He  felt  a  twinge  of 
the  bitterness  always  waiting  on  failure,  where  the 
undertaking,  whatever  it  be,  has  enlisted  the  whole 
heart.  At  such  times  instinctively  we  turn  here  and 
there  for  help,  and  in  its  absence,  for  comfort  and 
consolation;  what  should  he  do  now  but  advert  to 
Christianity  ?  What  would  Christians  say  of  his 
idea  ?  Was  God  lost  in  Christ  as  he  was  here  in 
Mahomet  ? 


IN  the  reception  room  of  the  Prince's  tent  the 
lamps  are  lighted ;  one  fastened  to  the  stout  centre 
pole,  and  five  others  on  as  many  palings  planted  in 
the  ground,  all  burning  brightly.  The  illumination 
is  enriched  by  the  admirable  blending  of  colors  in 
the  canopy  of  shawls.  Within  the  space  defined  by 
the  five  lamps,  on  a  tufted  rug,  the  Mystic  and  the 
Emir  are  seated,  both  hi  Ihram,  and  looking  cool 
and  comfortable,  though  the  night  outside  still  testi- 
fies to  the  heat  of  the  day. 

A  wooden  trencher,  scoured  white  as  ivory,  sepa- 
rates the  friends,  leaving  them  face  to  face.  In  sup- 
ping they  have  reached  what  we  call  the  dessert. 

On  the  trencher  are  slender  baskets  containing 
grapes,  figs,  and  dates,  the  choicest  of  the  gardens 
of  Medina.  A  jar  of  honey,  an  assortment  of  dry 
biscuits,  and  two  jugs,  one  of  water,  the  other  of 
juice  of  pomegranates,  with  drinking  cups,  complete 
the  board. 

At  this  age,  Orientals  lingering  at  table  have  the 
cheer  of  coffee  and  tobacco ;  unhappily  for  the  two 
of  whom  we  are  writing,  neither  of  the  great  narcot- 
ics was  discovered.  Nevertheless  it  should  not  be 
supposed  the  fruits,  the  honey,  and  the  waters  failed 
to  content  them.  Behind  the  host  is  the  negro  we 


84 

already  know  as  Nilo.  He  is  very  watchful  of  his 
master's  every  motion. 

As  guest  and  host  appear  now  the  formalism  of 
acquaintanceship  just  made  has  somewhat  disap- 
peared, and  they  are  talking  easily  and  with  free- 
dom. Occasionally  a  movement  of  one  or  the  other 
brings  his  head  to  a  favorable  angle,  whereat  the 
light,  dropping  on  the  freshly  shaven  crown,  is 
sharply  glinted  back. 

The  Emir  has  been  speaking  of  the  plague. 

"  At  Medina  I  was  told  it  had  run  its  course,"  the 
host  remarked. 

"True,  O  Hadji,  but  it  has  returned,  and  with 
greater  violence.  The  stragglers  were  its  victims; 
now  it  attacks  indiscriminately.  Yesterday  tHe 
guard  I  keep  in  the  rear  came  to  a  pilgrim  of  rank. 
His  litter  was  deserted,  and  he  was  lying  in  it 
dead." 

"  The  man  may  have  been  murdered." 

"Nay,"  said  the  Emir,  "gold  in  large  amount  was 
found  on  his  person." 

"But  he  had  other  property  doubtless  ?  " 

"Of  great  value." 

"  What  disposition  was  made  of  it  ? '' 

"It  was  brought  to  me,  and  is  now  with  other 
stores  in  my  tent ;  a  law  of  ancient  institution  vest- 
ing it  in  the  Emir  El  Hajj." 

The  countenance  of  the  Jew  became  serious. 

"  The  ownership  was  not  in  my  thought,"  he  said, 
waving  his  hand.  "  I  knew  the  law ;  but  this 
scourge  of  Allah  has  its  laws  also,  and  by  one  of 
them  we  are  enjoined  to  burn  or  bury  whatever  is 
found  with  the  body." 

The  Emir,  seeing  the  kindly  concern  of  his  host, 
smiled  as  he  answered : 


85 

"  But  there  is  a  higher  law,  O  Hadji.** 

"  I  spoke  without  thinking  danger  of  any  kind 
could  disturb  thee." 

The  host  drew  forward  the  date  basket,  and  the 
Emir,  fancying  he  discerned  something  on  his  mind 
besides  the  fruit,  waited  his  further  speech. 

"  I  am  reminded  of  another  matter,  O  brave  Emir; 
but  as  it  also  is  personal  I  hesitate.  Indeed  I  will 
not  speak  of  it  except  with  permission." 

"  As  you  will,"  the  other  replied,  "  I  will  answer 
— May  the  Prophet  help  me !  " 

"  Blessed  be  the  Prophet  ! "  said  the  Prince,  rever- 
ently. **  Thy  confidence  doeth  me  honor,  and  I 
thank  thee ;  at  the  same  time  I  would  not  presume 
upon  it  if  thy  tongue  were  less  suggestive  of  a  land 
whose  name  is  music — Italy.  It  is  in  my  knowledge, 
O  Emir,  that  the  Sultan,  thy  master — may  Allah 
keep  him  in  countenance ! — hath  in  his  service  many 
excellent  soldiers  by  birth  of  other  countries  than 
his  own,  broad  as  it  is — Christians,  who  are  none 
the  less  of  the  true  faith.  Wherefore,  wilt  thou  tell 
me  of  thyself  ?  " 

The  question  did  not  embarrass  the  Emir. 

"The  answer  must  be  brief,"  he  answered,  with- 
out hesitation,  "because  there  is  little  to  tell.  I  do 
not  know  my  native  country.  The  peculiarity  of 
accent  you  have  mentioned  has  been  observed  by 
others ;  and  as  they  agreed  with  you  in  assigning  it 
to  Italy,  I  am  nothing  loath  to  account  myself  an 
Italian.  The  few  shreds  of  circumstance  which 
came  to  me  in  course  of  time  confirmed  the  opinion, 
and  I  availed  myself  of  a  favorable  opportunity  to 
acquire  the  tongue.  In  our  further  speech,  O  Hadji, 
you  may  prefer  its  use." 

"At  thy  pleasure,"  the  host   replied;    "though 


86 

there  is  no  danger  of  our  being  overheard.  Nilo,  the 
slave  behind  me,  has  been  a  mute  from  birth." 

Then,  without  the  slightest  interruption,  the  Emir 
changed  his  speech  from  Greek  to  Italian. 

"My  earliest  remembrance  is  of  being  borne  in  a 
woman's  arms  out  of  doors,  under  a  blue  sky,  along 
a  margin  of  white  sand,  an  orchard  on  one  hand,  the 
sea  on  the  other.  The  report  of  the  waves  breaking 
upon  the  shore  lives  distinctly  in  my  memory ;  so  does 
the  color  of  the  trees  in  the  orchard  which  has  since 
become  familiar  to  me  as  the  green  of  olives.  Equally 
clear  is  the  recollection  that,  returning  in-doors,  I  was 
carried  into  a  house  of  stone  so  large  it  must  have 
been  a  castle.  I  speak  of  it,  as  of  the  orchard,  and 
the  sea,  and  the  roar  of  the  breakers,  quite  as  much 
by  reference  to  what  I  have  subsequently  seen  as 
from  trust  in  my  memory. " 

Here  the  host  interrupted  him  to  remark : 

"Though  an  Eastern,  I  have  been  a  traveller  in 
the  west,  and  the  description  reminds  me  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  Italy  in  the  region  of  Brindisi." 

"My  next  recollection,"  the  Emir  resumed,  "is  a 
child's  fright,  occasioned  by  furious  flames,  and  thick 
smoke,  and  noises  familiar  now  as  of  battle.  There 
was  then  a  voyage  on  the  sea  during  which  I 'saw 
none  but  bearded  men.  The  period  of  perfect  knowl- 
edge so  far  as  my  history  is  concerned  began  when 
I  found  myself  an  object  of  the  love  and  care  of  the 
wife  of  a  renowned  Pacha,  governor  of  the  city  of 
Brousa.  She  called  me  Mirza.  My  childhood  was 
spent  in  a  harem,  and  I  passed  from  it  into  a  school 
to  enter  upon  my  training  as  a  soldier.  In  good  time 
I  became  a  Janissary.  An  opportunity  presented  it- 
self one  day,  and  I  distinguished  myself.  My  master, 
the  Sultan,  rewarded  me  by  promotion  and  transfer 


to  the  Silihdars,*  the  most  ancient  and  favored  corps 
of  the  Imperial  army,  it  being  the  body-guard  of  the 
Padisha,  and  garrison  of  his  palace.  The  yellow  flag 
my  ensign  carries  belongs  to  that  corps.  As  a  fur- 
ther token  of  his  confidence,  the  Sultan  appointed 
me  Emir  El  Hajj.  In  these  few  words,  O  Hadji,  you 
have  my  history." 

The  listener  was  impressed  with  the  simplicity  of 
the  narrative,  and  the  speaker's  freedom  from  regret, 
sorrow,  or  passion  of  any  kind. 

"It  is  a  sad  story,  O  Emir,"  he  said,  sympatheti- 
cally, ' '  and  I  cannot  think  it  ended.  Knowest  thou 
not  more  ? " 

"  Nothing  of  incident,"  was  the  reply.  "All  that 
remains  is  inferential.  The  castle  was  attacked  at 
night  by  Turks  landed  from  their  galleys." 

"  And  thy  father  and  mother  ?" 

"  I  never  knew  them." 

"There  is  another  inference,"  said  the  Prince,  sug- 
gestively— "they  were  Christians." 

"Yes,  but  unbelievers." 

The  suppression  of  natural  affection  betrayed  by 
the  remark  still  more  astonished  the  host. 

"But  they  believed  in  God,"  he  said. 

"They  should  have  believed  Mahomet  was  his 
Prophet." 

"I  fear  I  am  giving  yon  pain,  O  Emir." 

"  Dismiss  the  fear,  O  Hadji." 

Again  the  Jew  sought  the  choicest  date  in  the  bas- 
ket. The  indifference  of  his  guest  was  quick  fuel  to 
the  misgivings  which  we  have  already  noticed  as 
taking  form  about  his  purpose,  and  sapping  and 
weakening  it.  To  be  arbiter  in  the  religious  disputes 
of  men,  the  unique  consummation  called  for  by  his 

*D'Ohfl8on. 


scheme,  the  disputants  must  concede  him  room  and 
hearing.  Were  all  Mohammedans,  from  whom  he 
hoped  most,  like  this  one  born  of  Christians,  then 
the  two  conditions  would  be  sternly  refused  him. 
By  the  testimony  of  this  witness,  there  was  nothing 
in  the  heredity  of  faith ;  and  it  went  to  his  soul  inci- 
sively that,  in  stimulating  the  passions  which  made 
the  crusades  a  recurrence  of  the  centuries,  he  him- 
self had  contributed  to  the  defeat  now  threatening 
his  latest  ambition.  The  sting  went  to  his  soul ;  yet, 
by  force  of  will,  always  at  command  in  the  presence 
of  strangers,  he  repressed  his  feeling,  and  said : 

"  Everything  is  as  Allah  wills.  Let  us  rejoice  that 
he  is  our  keeper.  The  determination  of  our  fate,  in 
the  sense  of  what  shall  happen  to  us,  and  what  we 
shall  be,  and  when  and  where  the  end  shall  over- 
take us,  is  no  more  to  him  than  deciding  the  tint  of 
the  rose  before  the  bud  is  formed.  O  Emir,  I  con- 
gratulate you  on  the  resignation  with  which  you 
accept  his  judgment.  I  congratulate  you  upon  the 
age  in  which  he  has  cast  your  life.  He  who  in  a 
moment  of  uncertainty  would  inform  himself  of  his 
future  should  not  heed  his  intentions  and  hopes ;  by 
studying  his  present  conditions,  he  will  find  himself 
an  oracle  unto  himself.  He  should  address  his  best 
mind  to  the  question,  '  I  am  now  in  a  road ;  if  I  keep 
it,  where  will  I  arrive  ?'  And  wisdom  will  answer, 
'  What  are  thy  desires  ?  For  what  art  thou  fitted  ? 
What  are  the  opportunities  of  the  time  ? '  Most  fort- 
unate, O  Emir,  if  there  be  correspondence  between 
the  desire,  the  fitness,  and  the  opportunity ! " 

The  Emir  did  not  comprehend,  and  seeing  it,  the 
host  added  with  a  directness  approaching  the  abrupt: 

"And  now  to  make  the  reason  of  my  congratu- 
lations clear,  it  is  necessary  that  thou  consent  to 


my   putting  a   seal    upon   thy   lips.     What   sayest 
thou  ? " 

"If  I  engage  my  silence,  0  Hadji,  it  is  because  I 
believe  you  are  a  good  man." 

The  dignity  of  the  Emir's  answer  did  not  entirely 
nide  the  effect  of  the  Prince's  manner. 

"Know  thou  then,"  the  latter  continued,  with  a 
steady,  penetrating  gaze — "know  thou  then,  there 
is  a  Brahman  of  my  acquaintance  who  is  a  Magus. 
I  use  the  word  to  distinguish  him  from  the  necro- 
mancers whom  the  Koran  has  set  in  everlasting  pro- 
hibition. He  keeps  school  in  a  chapel  hid  away  in 
the  heart  of  jungles  overgrowing  a  bank  of  the  Ber- 
mapootra,  not  far  from  the  mountain  gates  of  the 
river.  He  has  many  scholars,  and  his  intelligence 
has  compassed  all  knowledge.  He  is  familiar  with 
the  supernatural  as  with  the  natural.  On  my  way, 
I  visited  him.  .  .  .  Know  thou  next,  O  Emir,  I 
too  have  had  occasion  to  make  inquiries  of  the  future. 
The  vulgar  would  call  me  an  astrologer — not  a  pro- 
fessional practising  for  profit,  but  an  adept  seeking 
information  because  it  lifts  me  so  much  nearer  Allah 
and  his  sublimest  mysteries.  Very  lately  I  found 
a  celestial  horoscope  announcing  a  change  in  the 
status  of  the  world.  The  masterful  waves,  as  you 
may  know,  have  for  many  ages  flowed  from  the 
West;  but  now,  the  old  Eoman  impetus  having  at 
last  spent  itself,  a  refluence  is  to  set  in,  and  the  East 
in  its  turn  pour  a  dominating  flood  upon  the  West. 
The  determining  stars  have  slipped  their  influences. 
They  are  in  motion.  Constantinople  is  doomed  !  " 

The  guest  drew  a  quick  breath.     Understanding 
was  flooding  him  with  light. 

"And  now,  O  Emir,  say,  if  the  revelation  had 
stopped  there — stopped,  I  mean,  with  the  overthrow 

7 


90 

of  the  Christian  capital — wouldst  thou  have  been 
satisfied  with  it  ? " 

"No,  by  Allah,  no!" 

"Further,  Emir.  The  stars  being  communicable 
yet,  what  wouldst  thou  have  asked  them  next  ? " 

"  I  would  not  have  rested  until  I  had  from  them 
the  name  of  him  who  is  to  be  leader  in  the  move- 
ment." 

The  Mystic  smiled  at  the  young  man's  fervor. 

"  Thou  hast  saved  me  telling  what  I  did,  and 
affirmed  the  logic  of  our  human  nature,"  he  said. 
"  Thy  imperial  master  is  old,  and  much  worn  by 
wars  and  cares  of  government,  is  he  not  ?  " 

"  Old  in  greatness,"  answered  the  Emir,  diplomati- 
cally. 

"Hath  he  not  a  son  ?" 

"A  son  with  all  the  royal  qualities  of  the  father." 

"  But  young — not  more  than  eighteen." 

"Not  more." 

' '  And  the  Prophet  hath  lent  him  his  name  ?  " 

"Even  so." 

The  host  released  the  eager  face  of  the  Emir  from 
his  gaze,  while  he  sought  a  date  in  the  basket. 

"  Another  horoscope — the  second" — he  then  said, 
quietly,  "revealed  everything  but  the  hero's  name. 
He  is  to  be  of  kingly  birth,  and  a  Turk.  Though  a 
lad,  he  is  already  used  to  arms  and  armor." 

"Oh!  by  Allah,  Hadji,"  cried  the  guest,  his  face 
flushed,  his  words  quick,  his  voice  mandatory.  "Re- 
lease me  from  my  pledge  of  silence.  Tell  me  who 
thou  art,  that  I  may  report  thee,  and  the  things  thou 
sayest.  There  was  never  such  news  to  warm  a  heroic 
heart." 

The  Prince  pursued  his  explanation  without  appar- 
ently noticing  the  interruption. 


91 

"To  verify  the  confidences  of  the  stars,  I  sought 
the  Magus  in  his  chapel  by  the  sacred  river.  To- 
gether we  consulted  them,  and  made  the  calcula- 
tions. He  embraced  me ;  but  it  was  agreed  between 
us  that  absolute  verity  of  the  finding  could  only  be 
had  by  re-casting  the  horoscopes  at  Constantinople. 
Thou  must  know,  O  Emir,  there  is  an  astral  alpha- 
bet which  has  its  origin  in  the  inter-relations  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  represented  by  lines  impalpable  to 
the  common  eye;  know  also  that  the  most  favored 
adept  cannot  read  the  mystic  letters  with  the  assur- 
ance best  comporting  with  verity,  except  he  be  at 
the  place  of  the  destined  event  or  revolution.  To 
possess  myself  of  the  advantage,  I  shall  ere  long 
visit  the  ancient  capital.  More  plainly,  I  am  on  the 
way  thither  now." 

Instead  of  allaying  the  eagerness  of  the  Emir,  the 
words  excited  it  the  more. 

"Release  me  from  my  pledge,"  he  repeated,  en- 
treatingly,  "  and  tell  me  who  thou  art.  Mahommed 
is  my  pupil;  he  rides,  carries  shield,  lays  lance, 
draws  arrow,  and  strikes  with  sword  and  axe  as  I 
have  taught  him.  Thou  canst  not  name  a  quality 
characteristic  of  heroes  he  does  not  possess.  Doth 
Allah  permit  me  safe  return  from  the  Hajj,  he  will 
be  first  to  meet  me  at  his  father's  gate.  Think  what 
happiness  I  should  have  in  saluting  him  there  with 
the  title — Hail  Mahommed,  Conqueror  of  Constanti- 
nople!" 

The  Jew  answered : 

"I  would  gladly  help  thee,  O  Emir,  to  happiness 
and  promotion ;  for  I  see  that  af terwhile,  if  not  pres- 
ently, they  would  follow  such  a  salutation  of  thy 
pupil,  if  coupled  with  a  sufficient  explanation ;  but 
his  interests  are  paramount;  at  the  same  time  it 


becomes  me  to  be  allegiant  to  the  divinatory  stars. 
What  rivalries  the  story  might  awaken !  It  is  not 
uncommon  in  history,  as  thou  mayst  know,  that 
sons  of  promise  have  been  cut  off  by  jealous  fathers. 
I  am  not  accusing  the  great  Amurath ;  nevertheless 
precautions  are  always  proper." 

The  speaker  then  became  dramatic. 

"Nay,  brave  Emir,  the  will  to  help  thee  has  been 
already  seconded  by  the  deed.  I  spoke  but  now  of 
lines  of  correspondence  between  the  shining  lights 
that  are  the  life  of  the  sky  at  night.  Let  me  illus- 
trate my  meaning.  Observe  the  lamps  about  us. 
The  five  on  the  uprights.  Between  them,  in  the  air, 
two  stars  of  interwoven  form  are  drawn.  Take  the 
lamps  as  determining  points,  and  use  thy  fancy  a 
moment." 

The  Emir  turned  to  the  lamps ;  and  the  host,  swift 
to  understand  the  impulse,  gave  him  time  to  gratify 
it ;  then  he  resumed : 

' '  So  the  fields  of  Heaven  between  the  stars,  where 
the  vulgar  see  only  darkness,  are  filled  with  traceries 
infinite  in  form  yet  separable  as  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet.  They  are  the  ciphers  in  which  Allah 
writes  his  reasons  for  every  creation,  and  his  will 
concerning  it.  There  the  sands  are  numbered,  and 
the  plants  and  trees,  and  their  leaves,  and  the  birds, 
and  everything  animate ;  there  is  thy  history,  and 
mine,  and  all  of  little  and  great  and  good  and  bad 
that  shall  befall  us  in  this  life.  Death  does  not  blot 
out  the  records.  Everlastingly  writ,  they  shall  be 
everlastingly  read — for  the  shame  of  some,  for  the 
delight  of  others. " 

"  Allah  is  good,"  said  the  Emir,  bending  his  head. 

"And  now,"  the  Mystic  continued,  "thou  hast 
eaten  and  drunk  with  me  in  the  Pentagram  of  the 


96 

Magii.  Such  is  the  astral  drawing  between  the  five 
lamps.  Henceforth  in  conflicts  of  interest,  fortune 
against  fortune,  influences  undreamt  of  will  come 
to  thy  assistance.  So  much  have  I  already  done  for 
thee." 

The  Emir  bowed  lower  than  before. 

"Nor  that  alone,"  the  Jew  continued.  "Hence- 
forth our  lives  will  run  together  on  lines  never  di- 
vergent, never  crossing.  Be  not  astonished,  if,  within 
a  week,  I  furnish,  to  thy  full  satisfaction,  proof  of 
what  I  am  saying." 

The  expression  could  not  be  viewed  except  as  of 
more  than  friendly  interest. 

' '  Should  it  so  happen, "  the  Emir  said,  with  warmth, 
"consider  how  unfortunate  my  situation  would  be, 
not  knowing  the  name  or  country  of  my  benefactor." 

The  host  answered  simply,  though  evasively : 

"  There  are  reasons  of  state,  O  Emir,  requiring  me 
to  make  this  pilgrimage  unknown  to  any  one." 

The  Emir  apologized. 

*'  It  is  enough,"  the  host  added,  "  that  thou  remem- 
ber me  as  the  Prince  of  India,  whose  greatest  happi- 
ness is  to  believe  in  Allah  and  Mahomet  his  Prophet ; 
at  the  same  time  I  concede  we  should  have  the  means 
of  certainly  knowing  each  other  should  communica- 
tion become  desirable  hereafter." 

He  made  a  sign  with  his  right  hand  which  the 
negro  in  waiting  responded  to  by  passing  around  in 
front  of  him. 

"Nilo,"  the  master  said  in  Greek,  "bring  me  the 
two  malachite  rings — those  with  the  turquoise  eyes." 

The  slave  disappeared. 

"Touching  the  request  to  be  released  from  the 
promise  of  secrecy,  pardon  me,  O  Emir,  if  I  decline 
to  grant  it.  The  verification  to  be  made  in  Constan- 


K 

tinople  should  advise  thee  that  the  revolution  to 
which  I  referred  is  not  ripe  for  publication  to  the 
world.  A  son  might  be  excused  for  dishonoring  his 
parents ;  but  the  Magus  who  would  subject  the  divine 
science  to  danger  of  ridicule  or  contempt  by  prema- 
ture disclosure  is  fallen  past  hope — he  would  betray 
Allah  himself." 

The  Emir  bowed,  but  with  evident  discontent.  At 
length  the  slave  returned  with  the  rings. 

"Observe,  O  Emir,"  the  Jew  said,  passing  them 
both  to  his  guest,  "they  are  rare,  curious,  and  ex- 
actly alike." 

The  circlets  were  of  gold,  with  raised  settings  of 
deep  green  stone,  cut  so  as  to  leave  a  drop  of  pure 
turquoise  on  the  top  of  each,  suggestive  of  birds' 
eyes. 

"  They  are  exactly  the  same,  O  Prince,"  said  the 
Emir,  tendering  them  back. 

The  Jew  waved  his  hand. 

"Select  one  of  them,"  he  said,  "and  I  will  retain 
the  other.  Borne  by  messengers,  they  will  always 
identify  us  each  to  the  other." 

The  two  grew  more  cordial,  and  there  was  much 
further  conversation  across  the  board,  interspersed 
with  attentions  to  the  fruit  basket  and  pomegranate 
water.  About  midnight  the  Emir  took  his  departure. 
When  he  was  gone,  the  host  walked  to  and  fro  a  long 
time;  once  he  halted,  and  said  aloud — "I  hear  his 
salute,  'Hail  Mahommed,  Conqueror  of  Constanti- 
nople ! '  It  is  always  well  to  have  a  store  of  strings 
for  one's  bow." 

And  to  himself  he  laughed  heartily. 

Next  day  at  dawn  the  great  caravan  was  afoot, 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  clad  in  JTiram,  and 
whitening  the  pale  green  Valley. 


CHAPTER  VH 

AT  THE   KAABA 

THE  day  before  the  pilgrimage. 

A  cloud  had  hung  over  the  valley  where  Mecca  lies 
like  drift  in  the  bed  of  a  winding  gorge.  About  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  cloud  disappeared  over 
the  summit  of  Abu  Kubays  in  the  east.  The  promise 
of  rain  was  followed  by  a  simoom  so  stifling  that  it 
plunged  every  breathing  thing  into  a  struggle  for  air. 
The  dogs  burrowed  in  the  shade  of  old  walls ;  birds 
flew  about  with  open  beaks ;  the  herbage  wilted,  and 
the  leaves  on  the  stunted  shrubs  ruffled,  then  rolled 
up,  like  drying  cinnamon.  If  the  denizens  of  the 
city  found  no  comfort  hi  their  houses  of  stone  and 
mud,  what  suffering  was  there  for  the  multitude  not 
yet  fully  settled  in  the  blistering  plain  beyond  the 
bluffs  of  Arafat  ? 

The  zealous  pilgrim,  obedient  to  the  law,  always 
makes  haste  to  celebrate  his  arrival  at  the  Holy  City 
by  an  immediate  visit  to  the  Haram.  If  perchance  he 
is  to  see  the  enclosure  for  the  first  tune,  his  curiosity, 
in  itself  pardonable,  derives  a  tinge  of  piety  from 
duty.  The  Prince  of  India  but  illustrated  the  rule. 
He  left  his  tents  pitched  close  to  those  of  the  Emir  El 
Hajj  and  the  Scherif  of  Mecca,  under  the  Mountain 
of  Mercy,  as  Arafat  was  practically  translated  by  the 
very  faithful.  Having  thus  assured  the  safety  of  his 
property,  for  conveniency  and  greater  personal  com- 


96 

fort  he  took  a  house  with  windows  looking  into  the 
Mosque.  By  so  doing1,  he  maintained  the  dignity  of  his 
character  as  a  Prince  of  India.  The  beggars  throng- 
ing his  door  furnished  lively  evidence  of  the  expecta- 
tions his  title  and  greatness  had  already  excited. 

With  a  guide,  his  suite,  and  Nilo  shading  his  head 
with  an  umbrella  of  light  green  paper,  the  Prince 
appeared  in  front  of  the  chief  entrance  to  the  sacred 
square  from  the  north.* 

The  heads  of  the  party  were  bare;  their  counte- 
nances becomingly  solemn;  their  Ihram  fresh  and 
spotlessly  white.  Passing  slowly  on,  they  were  con- 
ducted under  several  outside  arches,  and  down  a  stair- 
way into  a  hall,  where  they  left  the  umbrella  and 
their  shoes. 

The  visitor  found  himself  then  in  a  cloister  of  the 
Mosque  with  which  the  area  around  the  Kaaba  is  com- 
pletely enclosed.  There  was  a  pavement  of  undressed 
flags,  and  to  the  right  and  left  a  wilderness  of  tall  pil- 
lars tied  together  by  arches,  which  in  turn  supported 
domes.  Numbers  of  people,  bareheaded  and  bare- 
footed, to  whom  the  heat  outside  was  insupportable, 
were  in  refuge  there;  some,  seated  upon  the  stones, 
revolved  then*  rosaries;  others  walked  slowly  about. 
None  spoke.  The  silence  was  a  tribute  to  the  ineffa- 
ble sanctity  of  the  place.  The  refreshing  shade,  the 
solemn  hush,  the  whiteness  of  the  garments  were  sug- 
gestive of  sepulchres  and  their  spectral  tenantry. 

In  the  square  whither  the  Prince  next  passed,  the 
first  object  to  challenge  his  attention  was  the  Kaaba 
itself.  At  sight  of  it  he  involuntarily  stopped. 

The  cloisters,  seen  from  the  square,  were  open  colon- 
nades. Seven  minarets,  belted  in  red,  blue  and  yel- 
low, arose  in  columnar  relief  against  the  sky  and  the 
*  The  Bab  el  Vzyadeh. 


97 

mountains  in  the  south.  A  gravelled  plot  received 
from  the  cloisters ;  next  that,  toward  the  centre,  was  a 
narrow  pavement  of  rough  stone  in  transverse  exten- 
sion down  a  shallow  step  to  another  gra veiled  plot; 
then  another  pavement  wider  than  the  first,  and  end- 
ing, like  it,  in  a  downward  step ;  after  which  there  was 
a  third  sanded  plot,  and  then  a  third  pavement  de- 
fined by  gilded  posts  upholding  a  continuous  row  of 
lamps,  ready  for  lighting  at  the  going  down  of  the 
sun.  The  last  pavement  was  of  gray  granite  polished 
mirror-like  by  the  friction  of  millions  of  bare  feet ;  and 
upon  it,  like  the  pedestal  of  a  monument  upon  a  plinth, 
rested  the  base  of  the  Holy  House,  a  structure  of  glassy 
white  marble  about  two  feet  in  height,  with  a  bench 
of  sharp  inclination  from  the  top.  At  intervals  it  was 
studded  with  massive  brass  rings.  Upon  the  base  the 
Kaaba  rose,  an  oblong  cube  forty  feet  tall,  eighteen 
paces  lengthwise,  and  fourteen  in  breadth,  shrouded 
all  in  black  silk  wholly  unrelieved,  except  by  one 
broad  band  of  the  appearance  of  gold,  and  inscriptions 
from  the  Koran,  of  a  like  appearance,  wrought  in 
boldest  lettering.  The  freshness  of  the  great  gloomy 
curtain  told  how  quickly  the  gift  of  the  Sultan  had 
been  made  available,  and  that  whatever  else  might 
betide  him,  the  young  Emir  was  already  happily  dis- 
charged of  his  trust. 

Of  the  details,  the  only  one  the  Jew  actually  coupled 
with  a  thought  was  the  Kaaba.  A  hundred  millions 
of  human  beings  pray  five  tunes  every  day,  their  faces 
turned  to  this  funereal  object !  The  idea,  though  com- 
monplace, called  up  that  other  always  in  waiting  with 
iiim.  In  a  space  too  brief  for  the  formulation  of 
words,  he  felt  the  Arbitership  of  his  dreams  blow 
away.  The  work  of  the  founder  of  Islam  was  too 
well  done  and  now  too  far  gone  to  be  disturbed,  except 
T 


with  the  sanction  of  God.  Had  he  the  sanction  ?  A 
writhing  of  the  soul,  accompanied  with  a  glare,  like 
lightning,  and  followed,  like  lightning,  by  an  engulf- 
ing darkness,  wrung  his  features,  and  instinctively  he 
covered  them  with  his  hands.  The  guide  saw  the 
action,  and  misjudged  it. 

"  Let  us  not  be  in  haste,"  he  said.  "  Others  before 
you  have  found  the  House  at  first  sight  blinding. 
Blessed  be  Allah!" 

The  commiseration  affected  the  Prince  strangely. 
The  darkness,  under  pressure  of  his  hands  upon  the 
eyeballs,  gave  place  to  an  atmosphere  of  roseate  light, 
in  the  fulness  of  which  he  saw  the  House  of  God  pro- 
jected by  Solomon  and  rebuilt  by  Herod.  The  realism 
of  the  apparition  was  absolute,  and  comparison  un- 
avoidable. That  he,  familiar  with  the  glory  of  the 
conception  of  the  Israelite,  should  be  thought  blinded 
by  this  Beit  Allah  of  the  Arab,  so  without  grace  of 
form  or  lines,  so  primitive  and  expressionless,  so  pal- 
pably uninspired  by  taste,  or  genius,  or  the  Deity  it 
was  designed  to  honor,  restored  him  at  once :  indeed, 
in  the  succeeding  reaction,  he  found  it  difficult  to  keep 
down  resentment.  Dropping  his  hands,  he  took  an- 
other survey  of  the  shrouded  pile,  and  swept  all  the 
square  under  eye. 

He  beheld  a  crowd  of  devotees  at  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  the  House,  and  over  their  heads  two  small  open 
structures  which,  from  descriptions  often  heard,  he 
recognized  as  praying  places.  A  stream  of  worship- 
pers was  circling  around  the  marble  base  of  the  Most 
Holy,  some  walking,  others  trotting;  these,  arriving 
at  the  northeast  corner,  halted — the  Black  Stone  was 
there !  A  babel  of  voices  kept  the  echoes  of  the  en- 
closure in  unremitting  exercise.  The  view  taken,  the 
Jew  said,  calmly : 


' '  Blessed  be  Allah !    I  will  go  forward. " 

In  his  heart  he  longed  to  be  in  Constantinople— 
Islam,  it  was  clear,  would  lend  him  no  ear ;  Christen- 
dom might  be  more  amenable. 

He  was  carried  next  through  the  Gate  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Old  Woman;  thence  to  the  space  in  front  of 
the  well  Zem-Zem ;  mindful  of  the  prayers  and  pros- 
trations required  at  each  place,  and  of  the  dumb  ser- 
vants who  went  with  him. 

The  famous  well  was  surrounded  by  a  throng  ap- 
parently impassable. 

"Room  for  the  Royal  Hadji — for  the  Prince  of 
India ! "  the  guide  yelled.  "  There  are  no  poor  where 
he  is — make  way ! " 

A  thousand  eyes  sought  the  noble  pilgrim ;  and  as 
a  path  opened  for  him,  a  score  of  Zem-Zemis  refilled 
their  earthen  cups  with  the  bitter  water  afresh.  A 
Prince  of  Hind  did  not  come  to  them  every  day. 

He  tasted  from  a  cup — his  followers  drank — and 
when  the  party  turned  away  there  were  jars  paid  for 
to  help  all  the  blind  in  the  caravan  back  to  healthful 
vision. 

"  There  is  no  God  but  Allah !  Be  merciful  to  him, 
O  Allah,"  the  crowd  shouted,  in  approval  of  the 
charity. 

The  press  of  pilgrims  around  the  northeastern  cor- 
ner of  the  Kaaba,  to  which  the  guide  would  have  con- 
ducted the  Prince  next,  was  greater  than  at  the  well. 
Each  was  waiting  his  turn  to  kiss  the  Black  Stone  be- 
fore beginning  the  seven  circuits  of  the  House. 

Never  had  the  new-comer  seen  a  concourse  so 
wrought  upon  by  fanaticism;  never  had  he  seen  a 
concourse  so  peculiarly  constituted.  All  complex- 
ions, even  that  of  the  interior  African,  were  a  reddish 
desert  tan.  Eyes  fiercely  bright  appeared  unnatu- 


100 

rally  swollen  from  the  colirium  with  which  they 
were  generally  stained.  The  diversities  the  peniten- 
tial costume  would  have  masked  were  effectually  ex- 
posed whenever  mouths  opened  for  utterance.  Many 
sang,  regardless  of  time  or  melody,  the  tilbiye  they 
had  hideously  vocalized  in  their  advance  toward  the 
city.  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  effort  at  ex- 
pression spent  itself  in  a  long  cry,  literally  rendered 
— "Thou  hast  called  me — I  am  here!  I  am  here!" 
The  deliverance  was  in  the  vernacular  of  the  devotee, 
and  low  or  loud,  shrill  or  hoarse,  according  to  the 
intensity  of  the  passion  possessing  him. 

To  realize  the  discordancy,  the  reader  must  recall 
the  multiplicity  of  the  tribes  and  nations  represented ; 
then  will  he  fancy  the  agitation  of  the  mass,  the 
swaying  of  the  white-clad  bodies,  the  tossing  of  bare 
arms  and  distended  hands,  the  working  of  tearful 
faces  turned  up  to  the  black-curtained  pile  regardless 
of  the  smiting  of  the  sun — here  men  on  their  knees, 
there  men  grovelling  on  the  pavement — yonder  one 
beating  his  breast  till  it  resounds  like  an  empty  cask 
— some  comprehension  of  the  living  obstruction  in 
front  of  the  Jew  can  be  had. 

Then  the  guide,  calling  bim,  tried  the  throng. 

"The  Prince  of  India!"  he  shouted,  at  the  top  of 
his  voice.  "Room  for  the  beloved  of  the  Prophet! 
Stand  not  in  his  way — Room,  room ! " 

After  much  persistence  the  object  was  achieved.  A 
pilgrim,  the  last  one  in  front  of  the  Prince,  with  arms 
extended  along  the  two  sides  of  the  angle  of  the  wall 
where  the  curtain  was  looped  up,  seemed  struggling 
to  embrace  the  House ;  suddenly,  as  in  despair  he  beat 
his  head  frantically  against  the  sharp  corner — a  sec- 
ond thrust  more  desperate  than  the  first — then  a 
groan,  and  he  dropped  blindly  to  the  pavement.  The 


101 

guide  rejoicing  made  haste  to  push  the  Prince  into 
the  vacant  place. 

Without  the  enthusiasm  of  a  traveller,  calmly  as 
a  philosopher,  the  Jew,  himself  again,  looked  at  the 
Stone  which  more  nearly  than  any  other  material  thing 
commanded  idolatrous  regard  from  the  Mohammedan 
world.  He  had  known  personally  most  of  the  great 
men  of  that  world — its  poets,  lawmakers,  warriors, 
ascetics,  kings — even  the  Prophet.  And  now  they 
came  one  by  one,  as  one  by  one  they  had  come  in 
then-  several  days,  and  kissed  the  insensate  thing; 
and  between  the  coining  and  going  tune  was  scarcely 
perceptible.  The  mind  has  the  faculty  of  compress- 
ing? DJ  °ne  mighty  effort,  the  incidents  of  a  life, 
even  of  centuries,  into  a  flash-like  reenactment. 

As  all  the  way  from  the  first  view  of  the  sanctuary 
to  arrival  at  the  gate,  and  thence  to  this  point,  the 
Jew  had  promptly  followed  his  guide,  especially  in 
recitation  of  the  prescribed  prayers,  he  was  about  to 
do  so  now ;  already  his  hands  were  raised. 

"Great  God!  O  my  God  1  I  believe  in  Thee— I  be- 
lieve  in  thy  Book — I  believe  in  thy  Word — I  believe 
in  thy  Promise,"  the  zealous  prompter  said,  and 
waited. 

For  the  first  time  the  votary  was  slow  to  respond. 
How  could  he,  at  such  a  juncture,  refuse  a  thought  to 
the  Innumerables  whose  ghosts  had  been  rendered  up 
in  vain  struggles  to  obey  the  law  which  required 
them  to  come  and  make  proof  of  faith  before  this 
Stone!  The  Innumerables,  lost  at  sea,  lost  in  the 
desert — lost  body  and  soul,  as  in  their  dying  they 
themselves  had  imagined!  Symbolism!  An  inven- 
tion of  men — a  necessity  of  necromancers !  God  had 
his  ministers  and  priests,  the  living  media  of  his  will, 
but  of  symbols — nothing ! 


102 

"  Great  God !    O  my  God !  "  the  guide  began  again. 

A  paroxysm  of  disgust  seized  the  votary.  The  Phar- 
iseeism  in  which  he  was  horn  and  bred,  and  which  he 
could  no  more  outlive  than  he  could  outlive  his  body, 
asserted  itself. 

In  the  crisis  of  the  effort  at  self-control,  he  heard  a 
groan,  and,  looking  down,  saw  the  mad  devotee  at  his 
feet.  In  sliding  from  the  shelf  of  the  base,  the  man 
had  been  turned  upon  his  back,  so  that  he  was  lying 
face  upward.  On  the  forehead  there  were  two  cruel 
wounds;  and  the  blood,  yet  flowing,  had  partially 
filled  the  hollows  of  the  eyes,  making  the  counte- 
nance unrecognizable. 

"  The  wretch  is  dying,"  the  Prince  exclaimed. 

"Allah  is  merciful — let  us  attend  to  the  prayers," 
the  guide  returned,  intent  on  business. 

"  But  he  will  die,  if  not  helped." 

"When  we  have  finished,  the  porters  will  come  for 
him." 

The  sufferer  stirred,  then  raised  a  hand. 

"  O  Hadji — O  Prince  of  India! "  he  said  faintly,  in 
Italian. 

The  Wanderer  bent  down  to  get  a  nearer  view. 

"  It  is  the  Yellow  Air — save  me !  " 

Though  hardly  articulate,  the  words  were  full  of 
light  to  the  listener. 

"The  virtues  of  the  Pentagram  endure,"  he  said, 
with  absolute  self-possession.  ' '  The  week  is  not  ended, 
and,  lo ! — I  save  him.** 

Rising  to  his  full  stature,  he  glanced  here  and  there 
over  the  throng,  as  if  commanding  attention,  and  pro- 
claimed: 

"  A  mercy  of  the  Most  Merciful !  It  is  the  Emir  El 
Hajj." 

There  was  a  general  silence.    Every  man  had  seen 


108 

the  martial  figure  of  the  young  chief  in  his  arms  and 
armor,  and  on  horseback ;  many  of  them  had  spoken 
to  him. 

"The  Emir  El  Hajj — dying,"  passed  rapidly  from 
mouth  to  mouth. 

"O  Allah!"  burst  forth  in  general  refrain;  after 
which  the  ejaculations  were  all  excerpted  from 
prayers. 

"  '  O  Allah !  This  is  the  place  of  him  who  flies  to 
thee  from  fire ! — Shadow  him,  O  Allah,  in  thy  shadow  I 
— Give  him  drink  from  the  cup  of  thy  Prophet ! ' " 

A  Bedouin,  tall,  almost  black,  and  with  a  tremen- 
dous mouth  open  until  the  red  lining  was  exposed 
between  the  white  teeth  down  to  the  larynx,  shouted 
shrilly  the  inscription  on  the  marble  over  the  breast 
of  the  Prophet — "  In  the  name  of  Allah !  Allah  have 
mercy  upon  him ! " — and  every  man  repeated  the 
words,  but  not  one  so  much  as  reached  a  hand  in  help. 

The  Prince  waited — still  the  Amins,  and  prayerful 
ejaculations.  Then  his  wonder  ceased.  Not  a  pilgrim 
but  envied  the  Emir — that  he  should  die  so  young  was 
a  pity — that  he  should  die  at  the  base  of  the  sanctuary, 
in  the  crowning  act  of  the  Hajj,  was  a  grace  of  God. 
Each  felt  Paradise  stooping  low  to  receive  a  martyr, 
and  that  its  beatitude  was  near.  They  trembled  with 
ecstasy  at  hearing  the  gates  opening  on  their  crystal 
hinges,  and  seeing  light  as  from  the  robe  of  the  Prophet 
glimmering  through  them.  O  happy  Emir ! 

The  Jew  drew  within  himself.  Compromise  with 
such  fanaticism  was  impossible.  Then,  with  crushing 
distinctness,  he  saw  what  had  not  before  occurred  to 
him  In  the  estimation  of  the  Mohammedan  world, 
the  role  of  Arbiter  was  already  filled ;  that  which  he 
thought  of  being,  Mahomet  was.  Too  late,  too  late ! 
In  bitterness  of  soul  he  flung  his  arms  up  and  shouted : 


104 

"  The  Emir  is  dying  of  the  plague ! " 

He  would  have  found  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  bla- 
tant crowd  take  to  its  heels,  and  hie  away  into  the 
cloisters  and  the  world  outside ;  not  one  moved ! 

"By  Allah!"  he  shouted,  more  vehemently  than 
before.  ' '  The  Yellow  Air  hath  blown  upon  the  Emir 
— is  blowing  upon  you — Fly ! " 

"  Amin  !  Amin  ! — Peace  be  with  thee,  O  Prince  of 
Martyrs!  0  Prince  of  the  Happy!  Peace  be  with 
thee,  O  Lion  of  Allah!  O  Lion  of  the  Prophet!" 
Such  the  answers  returned  him. 

The  general  voice  became  a  howl.  Surely  here  was 
something  more  than  fanaticism.  Then  it  entered  his 
understanding.  What  he  beheld  was  Faith  exulting 
above  the  horrors  of  disease,  above  the  fear  of  death — 
Faith  bidding  Death  welcome !  His  arms  fell  down. 
The  crowd,  the  sanctuary,  the  hopes  he  had  built  on 
Islam,  were  no  more  to  him.  He  signed  to  his  three 
attendants,  and  they  advanced  and  raised  the  Emir 
from  the  pavement. 

' '  To-morrow  I  will  return  with  thee,  and  complete 
my  vows;  "  he  said  to  his  guide.  "  For  the  present, 
lead  out  of  the  square  to  my  house." 

The  exit  was  effected  without  opposition. 

Next  day  the  Emir,  under  treatment  of  the  Prince, 
was  strong  enough  to  tell  his  story.  The  plague  had 
struck  him  about  noon  of  the  day  following  the  inter- 
view in  the  tent  at  El  Zaribah.  Determined  to  deliver 
the  gifts  he  had  in  keeping,  and  discharge  his  trust  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  sovereign,  he  struggled  reso- 
lutely with  the  disease.  After  securing  the  Scherif s 
receipt  he  bore  up  long  enough  to  superintend  the 
pitching  his  camp.  Believing  death  inevitable,  he 
was  carried  into  his  tent,  where  he  issued  his  final 
orders  and  bade  his  attendants  farewell.  In  the 


105 

morning,  though  weak,  half-delirious,  his  faith  the 
strongest  surviving  impulse,  he  called  for  his  horse, 
and  being  lifted  into  the  saddle,  rode  to  the  city,  re- 
solved to  assure  himself  of  the  blessings  of  Allah  by 
dying  in  the  shadow  of  the  sanctuary. 

The  Prince,  listening  to  the  explanation,  was  more 
than  ever  impressed  with  the  futility  of  attempting  a 
compromise  with  people  so  devoted  to  their  religion. 
There  was  nothing  for  him  but  to  make  haste  to  Con- 
stantinople, the  centre  of  Christian  sentiment  and 
movement.  There  he  might  meet  encouragement  and 
ultimate  success. 

In  the  ensuing  week,  having  performed  the  two 
pilgrimages,  and  seen  the  Emir  convalescent,  he  took 
the  road  again,  and  in  good  time  reached  Jedda,  where 
he  found  his  ship  waiting  to  convey  him  across  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  African  coast.  The  embarkation  was 
without  incident,  and  he  departed,  leaving  a  reputa- 
tion odorous  for  sanctity,  with  numberless  witnesses 
to  cany  it  into  every  quarter  of  Islam. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    ARRIVAL    IN    CONSTANTINOPLE 

UEL,  the  son  of  Jahdai,  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying 
the  letter  received  from  the  mysterious  stranger  about 
with  him  in  a  breast  pocket.  How  many  times  a  day 
he  took  it  out  for  reexamination  would  be  difficult  to 
say.  Observing  the  appearance  of  signs  of  usage,  he 
at  length  wrapped  it  in  an  envelope  of  yellow  silk.  If 
he  had  thought  less  of  it,  he  would  have  resorted  to 
plain  linen. 

There  were  certain  points  in  the  missive  which 
seemed  of  greater  interest  to  him  than  others.  For 
example,  the  place  whence  it  had  been  addressed  was 
an  ever  recurring  puzzle ;  he  also  dwelt  long  upon  the 
sentence  which  referred  so  delicately  to  a  paternal  re- 
lationship. The  most  exigent  passages,  however,  were 
those  relative  to  the  time  he  might  look  for  the  man's 
coming.  As  specially  directed,  he  had  taken  note  of 
the  day  of  the  delivery  of  the  letter,  and  was  greatly 
surprised  to  find  the  messenger  had  arrived  the  last 
day  of  the  year  permitted  him.  The  punctuality  of 
the  servant  might  be  in  imitation  of  a  like  virtue  of 
the  master.  If  so,  at  the  uttermost,  the  latter  might 
be  expected  six  months  after  receipt  of  the  letter.  Or 
he  might  appear  within  the  six  months.  The  journeys 
laid  out  were  of  vast  distances,  and  through  wild  and 
dangerous  countries,  and  by  sea  as  well.  Only  a  good 


107 

traveller  could  survive  them  at  all ;  to  execute  them 
in  such  brief  space  seemed  something  superhuman. 

So  it  befell  that  the  son  of  Jahdai  was  at  first 
but  little  concerned.  The  months — three,  four,  five — 
rolled  away,  and  the  sixth  was  close  at  hand;  then 
every  day  brought  him  an  increase  of  interest.  In  fact, 
he  found  himself  looking  for  the  arrival  each  morning, 
and  at  noon  promising  it  an  event  of  the  evening. 

November  was  the  sixth  and  last  month  of  the  time 
fixed.  The  first  of  that  month  passed  without  the 
stranger.  Uel  became  anxious.  The  fifteenth  he 
turned  the  keeping  of  his  shop  over  to  a  friend ;  and 
knowing  the  passage  from  Alexandria  must  be  by 
sea,  he  betook  himself,  with  Syama,  to  the  port  on 
the  Golden  Horn  known  as  the  Gate  of  St.  Peter,  at 
the  time  most  frequented  by  Egyptian  sailing  mas- 
ters. In  waiting  there,  he  saw  the  sun  rise  over  the 
heights  of  Scutari,  and  it  was  the  morning  of  the  very 
last  day.  Syama,  meantime,  occupied  himself  in  final 
preparation  of  the  house  for  the  reception.  He  was 
not  excited,  like  Uel,  because  he  had  no  doubt  of 
the  arrival  within  the  period  set:  He  was  also  posi- 
tively certain  of  finding  his  master,  when  at  length 
he  did  appear,  exactly  as  when  he  separated  from  him 
in  Cipango.  He  was  used  to  seeing  Tune  waste  itself 
upon  the  changeless  man ;  he  had  even  caught  from 
him  a  kind  of  contempt  for  what  other  men  shrank 
from  as  dangers  and  difficulties. 

The  site  of  the  house  has  been  described ;  it  remains 
to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  its  interior.  There  were 
four  rooms  on  the  ground  floor  furnished  comfort- 
ably for  servants,  of  whom  the  arrangement  indicated 
three  besides  Syama.  The  first  floor  was  of  three 
apartments  communicable  by  doorways  with  portiferes 
of  camel's  hair.  The  furniture  was  Roman,  Greek, 


and  Egyptian  mixed.  Of  the  three  the  middle  charn* 
ber  was  largest,  and  as  its  fittings  were  in  a  style  of 
luxury  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  princes,  the  conclu- 
sion was  fair  that  it  was  designed  for  the  proprietor's 
occupancy  during  his  waking  hours.  A  dark  blue 
rug  clothed  the  floor.  In  the  centre,  upon  a  shield 
of  clear  copper,  arose  a  silver  brazier.  The  arms  and 
legs  of  the  stools  here  and  there  on  the  rug  were 
carven  in  grotesque  imitation  of  reptiles  and  animals 
of  the  ultra  dragonish  mode.  The  divans  against  the 
walls  were  of  striped  silk.  In  each  corner  stood  a  tall 
post  of  silvered  bronze,  holding  at  the  end  of  a  grace- 
ful crook  several  lamps  of  Pompeiian  model.  A  wide 
window  in  the  east  end,  filled  with  plants  in  bloom, 
admitted  ample  light,  which,  glancing  through  the 
flowers,  fell  on  a  table  dressed  hi  elegant  cloth,  and 
bearing  a  lacquered  waiter  garnished  with  cups  of 
metal  and  glass,  and  one  hand-painted  porcelain  de- 
canter for  drinking  water.  An  enormous  tiger-skin, 
the  head  intact  and  finished  with  extraordinary  real- 
ism, was  spread  on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  table. 
The  walls  were  brilliant  with  fresh  Byzantine  fresco- 
ing. The  air  of  the  room  was  faintly  pervaded  with 
a  sweet  incense  of  intoxicating  effect  upon  one  just 
admitted  to  it.  Indeed  the  whole  interior  partook  of 
this  sweetness. 

The  care  of  the  faithful  servant  had  not  been  con- 
fined to  the  rooms;  he  had  constructed  a  summer 
house  upon  the  roof,  knowing  that  when  the  weather 
permitted  his  master  would  pass  the  nights  there  in 
preference  to  the  chambers  below.  This  structure 
looked  not  unlike  a  modern  belfry,  except  that  the 
pillars  and  shallow  dome  of  the  top  were  of  Moorish 
lightness.  Thence,  to  a  familiar,  the  heavens  in  the 
absence  of  the  sun  would  be  an  unrolled  map. 


100 

When  the  last  touch  of  the  preparation  had  been 
given,  and  Syama  said  to  himself,  "He  may  come 
now,"  one  point  was  especially  noticeable — nowhere 
in  the  house  was  there  provision  for  a  woman. 

The  morning  of  the  last  day  Syama  accompanied 
Uel  to  the  port  reluctantly.  Feeling  sure  his  master 
had  not  arrived  in  the  night,  he  left  his  friend  on  the 
watch,  and  returned  home  early. 

The  noise  and  stir  of  business  at  the  ancient  landing 
were  engaging.  With  a  great  outcry,  a  vessel  would 
be  drawn  up,  and  made  fast,  and  the  unloading  begun. 
A  drove  of  donkeys,  or  a  string  of  camels,  or  a  mob 
of  porters  would  issue  from  the  gate,  receive  the  cargo 
and  disappear  with  it.  Now  and  then  a  ship  rounded 
the  classic  Point,  its  square  sail  bent  and  all  the  oars 
at  work ;  sweeping  past  Galata  on  the  north  side  of 
the  Horn,  then  past  the  Fish  Market  Gate  on  the 
south,  up  it  would  come  gracefully  as  a  flying  bird; 
if  there  was  place  for  it  at  the  quay,  well ;  if  not,  after 
hovering  around  awhile,  it  would  push  out  to  a  berth 
in  the  open  water.  Such  incidents  were  crises  to  Uel. 
To  this  one  and  to  that  he  would  run  with  the  ques- 
tion: 

"  Where  is  she  from  ? " 

If  from  the  upper  sea,  he  subsided ;  but  if  from  the 
Marmora,  he  kept  eager  lookout  upon  her,  hoping  to 
recognize  in  every  disembarkee  the  man  he  was  ex- 
pecting. 

That  he  had  never  seen  the  person  was  of  little  con- 
sequence. He  had  thought  of  him  so  much  awake, 
and  seen  him  so  repeatedly  in  dreams,  he  was  confi- 
dent of  knowing  him  at  sight.  Imagining  a  stranger's 
appearance  is  for  the  most  part  a  gentle  tribute  of 
respect ;  the  mistakes  we  make  are  for  the  most  part 
ludicrous. 


110 

No  one  answering  the  preconception  came.  Noon, 
and  still  no  one;  then,  cast  down  and  disappointed, 
Uel  went  home,  ate  something,  held  the  usual  child- 
ish dialogue  with  his  little  girl,  and  about  mid  after- 
noon crossed  the  street  to  the  new  residence.  Great 
was  his  astonishment  at  finding  a  pyramid  of  coals 
glowing  in  the  silver  brazier,  and  the  chill  already 
driven  from  the  sitting-room.  Here — there — upstairs, 
downstairs — the  signs  were  of  present  occupancy.  For 
a  moment  he  thought  the  master  had  slipped  by  him 
or  landed  at  some  other  port  of  the  city. 

"  Is  he  here  ?  Has  he  come  ?  "  he  asked,  excitedly, 
and  Syama  answered  with  a  shake  of  the  head. 

"Then  why  the  fire?" 

Syama,  briefly  waving  his  hand  as  if  following  the 
great  Marmorean  lake,  turned  the  finger  ends  into  the 
other  palm,  saying  plainly  and  emphatically : 

"He  is  coming — he  will  be  here  directly." 

Uel  smiled — faith  could  not  be  better  illustrated — • 
and  it  was  so  in  contrast  with  his  own  incredulity ! 

He  lingered  awhile.  Restlessness  getting  the  mas- 
tery, he  returned  home,  reflecting  on  the  folly  of 
counting  so  implicitly  upon  the  conclusion  to  a  day 
of  a  tour  so  vast.  More  likely,  he  thought,  the  trav- 
eller's bones  were  somewhere  whitening  the  desert,  or 
the  savages  of  Kash-Cush  had  eaten  him.  He  had 
heard  of  their  cannibalism. 

Want  of  faith,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  shop- 
keeper from  going  to  his  friend's  house  after  supper. 
It  was  night,  and  dark,  and  the  chilling  moisture  of 
a  winter  wind  blowing  steadily  from  the  Black  Sea 
charged  the  world  outside  with  discomfort.  The  bra- 
zier with  its  heap  of  living  coals  had  astonished  him 
before;  now  the  house  was  all  alight!  He  hastened 
upstairs.  In  the  sitting-room  the  lamps  were  burn- 


Ill 

ing,  and  the  illumination  was  brilliant.  Syama  was 
there,  calm  and  smiling  as  usual. 

"What— he  is  here  ?"  Uel  said,  looking  from  door 
to  door. 

The  servant  shook  his  head,  and  waved  his  hand 
negatively,  as  to  say : 

"  Not  yet — be  patient — observe  me." 

To  indulge  his  wonder,  Uel  took  seat.  Later  on  he 
tried  to  get  from  Syama  an  explanation  of  his  amaz- 
ing confidence,  but  the  latter's  substitute  for  speech 
was  too  limited  and  uncertain  to  be  satisfactory. 

About  ten  o'clock  Syama  went  below,  and  presently 
returned  with  food  and  drink  on  a  large  waiter. 

"  Ah,  good  Lord !  "  Uel  thought.  "  He  is  making  a 
meal  ready.  What  a  man !  What  a  master !  " 

Then  he  gave  attention  to  the  fare,  which  was 
of  wheaten  wafers,  cold  fowl,  preserved  fruits,  and 
wine  in  a  stoneware  bottle.  These  Syama  set  on  a 
circular  table  not  higher  than  the  divan  in  front  of 
which  it  was  drawn.  A  white  napkin  and  a  bowl  for 
laving  the  fingers  completed  the  preparation,  as  Uel 
supposed.  But  no.  Syama  went  below  again,  and  re- 
appeared with  a  metal  pot  and  a  small  wooden  box. 
The  pot  he  placed  on  the  coals  in  the  brazier,  and  soon 
a  delicate  volume  of  steam  was  pouring  from  the  spout ; 
after  handling  the  box  daintily  as  if  the  contents  were 
vastly  precious,  he  deposited  it  unopened  by  the  nap- 
kin and  bowl.  Then,  with  an  expression  of  content 
upon  his  face,  he  too  took  seat,  and  surrendered  him- 
self to  expectancy.  The  lisping  of  the  steam  escaping 
from  the  pot  on  the  fire  was  the  only  sound  in  the  room. 

The  assurance  of  the  servant  was  contagious.  Uel 
began  to  believe  the  master  would  come.  He  was  con- 
gratulating himself  upon  the  precaution  he  had  taken 
in  leaving  a  man  at  the  port  to  conduct  him  rightly. 


112 

when  he  heard  a  shuffling  of  feet  below  stairs.  He 
listened  startled.  There  were  several  men  in  the  com- 
pany. Steps  shook  the  floor.  Uel  and  Syama  arose. 
The  latter's  countenance  flushed  with  pleasure ;  giving 
one  triumphal  glance  at  his  friend,  much  as  to  say, 
There — did  I  not  tell  you  so  ?  he  walked  forward 
quickly,  and  reached  the  head  of  the  steps  just  as  a 
stranger  finished  their  ascent.  In  a  moment  Syama 
was  on  his  knees,  kissing  the  hand  held  out  to  him. 
Uel  needed  no  prompter — it  was  the  master ! 

If  only  on  account  of  the  mutuality  of  affection 
shown  between  the  two,  the  meeting  was  a  pleasant 
sight.  That  feature,  however,  was  lost  to  the  shop- 
keeper, who  had  no  thought  except  of  the  master's 
appearance.  He  had  imagined  him  modelled  after 
the  popular  conceptions  of  kings  and  warriors — tall, 
majestic,  awe-inspiring.  He  saw  instead  a  figure  rather 
undersized,  slightly  stoop-shouldered,  thin ;  at  least  it 
seemed  so  then,  hid  as  it  was  under  a  dark  brown  bur- 
nouse of  the  amplitude  affected  by  Arab  sheiks.  The 
head  was  covered  by  a  woollen  handkerchief  of  red- 
dish tint,  held  by  a  scarlet  cord.  The  edge  of  the 
handkerchief  projected  over  the  forehead  enough  to 
cast  the  entire  face  in  shade,  leaving  to  view  only  a 
mass  of  white  beard  overflowing  the  breast. 

The  master  ended  the  reception  at  the  head  of  the 
stairs  by  gently  raising  Syama  to  his  feet.  Then  he 
subjected  the  room  to  a  swift  inspection,  and,  in  proof 
of  satisfaction,  he  patted  the  happy  retainer  on  the 
shoulder.  Invited  by  the  fire,  and  the  assurance  of 
comfort  in  its  glow,  he  advanced  to  the  brazier,  and 
while  extending  his  hands  over  it,  observed  UeL 
Without  surprise  or  hesitation  he  walked  to  him. 

"  Son  of  Jahdai!  "  he  said,  offering  his  hand. 

The  voice  was  of  exceeding  kindness.     As  an  ovef 


118 

ture  to  peace  and  goodwill,  it  was  reenforced  by  very 
large  eyes,  the  intense  blackness  of  which  was  soft- 
ened by  a  perceptible  glow  of  pleasure.  Uel  was  won 
on  the  instant.  A  recollection  of  the  one  supreme 
singularity  of  the  new  acquaintance — his  immunity 
from  death — recurred  to  him,  and  he  could  not  have 
escaped  its  effect  had  he  wished.  He  was  conscious 
also  that  the  eyes  were  impressing  him.  Without  dis- 
tinct thought,  certainly  without  the  slightest  courtierly 
design,  he  obeyed  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  and 
stooped  and  touched  the  extended  hand  with  his  lips. 
And  before  rising  he  heard  the  beginning  of  further 
speech: 

"I  see  the  truth  of  my  judgment.  The  family  of 
my  ancient  friends  has  trodden  the  ways  of  righteous- 
ness under  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  until 'it 
has  become  a  kind  unto  itself.  I  see  too  my  trust  has 
been  verified.  O  Son  of  Jahdai,  you  did  assist  my  ser- 
vant, as  I  requested,  and  to  your  kindness,  doubtless, 
I  am  indebted  for  this  home  full  of  comforts  after  a  long 
absence  among  strangers.  I  hold  you  my  creditor." 

The  tendency  of  the  speech  was  to  relieve  Uel  of 
embarrassment. 

"Do  not  thank  me,"  he  answered,  "The  business 
was  ordinary,  and  strictly  within  Syama's  capacity. 
Indeed,  the  good  man  could  have  finished  it  without 
my  help." 

The  master,  rich  in  experience,  noticed  the  deferen- 
tial manner  of  the  reply,  and  was  agreeably  assured 
on  his  side. 

"Very  well.  There  will  be  no  harm  in  reserving 
an  opinion,"  he  said.  "The  good  man,  as  you  call 
him,  is  making  ready  a  drink  with  which  he  has  pre- 
ceded me  from  his  country,  and  which  you  must  stay 
and  share,  as  it  is  something  unknown  in  the  West" 


114 

"  Let  me  first  welcome  you  here,"  Uel  returned. 

"Oh,  I  saw  the  welcome  in  your  face.  But  let  UB 
get  nearer  the  fire.  The  night  is  chilling.  If  I  were 
owner  of  a  garden  under  whatever  hill  along  the  Bos- 
phorus,  verily  I  should  tremble  for  my  roses." 

Thus  briefly,  and  in  such  simple  manner,  the  wise 
Mystic  put  the  shopkeeper  perfectly  at  ease. 

At  the  brazier  they  watched  Syama  in  the  operation 
since  become  of  universal  knowledge  under  title  of 
"drawing  tea."  The  fragrance  of  the  decoction  pres- 
ently filled  the  room  to  the  suppression  of  the  incense, 
and  they  drank,  ate,  and  were  sociable.  The  host  out- 
lined his  travels.  Uel,  in  return,  gave  him  informa- 
tion of  the  city.  When  the  latter  departed,  it  was 
with  a  light  heart,  and  an  elastic  step ;  the  white  beard 
and  patriarchal  manner  of  the  man  had  laid  his  fears, 
and  the  future  was  to  him  like  a  cloudless  sky. 

Afterwhile  the  master  signified  a  wish  to  retire; 
whereupon  his  household  came,  as  was  their  wont,  to 
bid  him  good-night.  Of  these  there  were  two  white 
men.  At  sight  of  Syama,  they  rushed  to  embrace  him 
as  became  brethren  of  old  acquaintance  long  in  the 
same  service.  A  third  one  remained  at  the  door. 
Syama  looked  at  him,  and  then  at  the  master ;  for  the 
man  was  a  stranger.  Then  the  Jew,  with  quick  intui- 
tion of  the  requirement  of  the  time,  went,  and  took  him 
by  the  hand,  and  led  him  to  the  others.  Addressing 
Syama,  he  said  gravely : 

"This  is  Nilo,  grandson  of  the  Nilo  whom  you 
knew.  As  you  held  the  grandfather  in  love,  so  you 
shall  hold  the  grandson." 

The  man  was  young,  very  black,  and  gigantic  in 
stature.  Syama  embraced  him  as  he  had  the  others. 

In  the  great  city  there  was  not  a  more  united  house- 
hold under  roof  than  that  of  the  shopkeeper's  friend. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   PRINCE   AT  HOME 

A  WISE  man  wishing  to  know  another  always  at- 
tends him  when  he  is  in  narrative.  The  reader  may 
be  familiar  with  the  principle,  and  a  believer  in  it; 
for  his  better  satisfaction,  therefore,  a  portion  of  the 
Prince's  conversation  with  Uel  over  the  tea-table  the 
night  of  his  arrival  in  Constantinople  shall  be  report- 
ed nearly  as  possible  in  his  own  words.  It  will  be 
found  helpful  to  the  story  as  well  as  an  expose  of 
character. 

"I  said  in  my  letter,  as  thou  mayst  remember,  O 
son  of  Jahdai " — the  voice  of  the  speaker  was  low,  but 
earnest,  and  admirably  in  harmony  with  the  sentiment, 
"that  I  hoped  thou  wouldst  allow  me  to  relate  my- 
self to  thee  as  father  to  son.  Thou  hast  not  forgotten 
it,  I  am  sure." 

"I  recall  it  distinctly,"  Uel  answered,  respectfully. 

"Thou  wilt  remember  not  less  clearly  then  that  I 
added  the  words,  'in  all  things  a  help,  in  nothing  a 
burden.'" 

Uel  assented. 

"The  addition  I  thought  of  great  importance,"  the 
Prince  continued ;  ' '  for  it  was  very  desirable  that  thou 
shouldst  not  imagine  me  coming  to  sit  down  upon  thee, 
and  in  idleness  fatten  upon  the  fruits  of  thy  industry. 
As  something  of  even  greater  importance,  thou  shouldst 
know  now,  at  this  earliest  moment  of  our  intercourse, 


116 

that  I  am  abundantly  able  from  what  I  have  of  goods 
and  treasure  to  keep  any  condition  I  may  choose  to 
assume.  Indeed  thou  shouldst  not  be  too  much  aston- 
ished did  I  practise  the  style  and  manner  of  the  nobles 
who  are  privileged  in  the  palaces  of  thy  Caesar.  At 
home  I  shall  be  as  thou  seest  me  now,  thy  friend  of 
simplest  habits,  because  my  tastes  really  incline  to 
them;  when  I  go  abroad,  the  officials  of  the  Church 
and  State  whom  I  chance  to  encounter  shall  be  chal- 
lenged to  comparison  of  appearance,  and  be  piqued  to 
inquire  about  me.  Then  when  the  city  observes  thou 
art  intimate  with  me,  the  demand  for  thy  wares  will 
increase ;  thou  mayst  even  be  put  to  stress  to  keep  apace 
with  it.  In  speaking  thus,  I  trust  thy  natural  shrewd- 
ness, sharpened  as  it  must  have  become  by  much  deal- 
ing as  a  merchant." 

He  paused  here  to  give  his  cup  to  Syama  for  replen- 
ishment; whereupon  Uel  said:  "I  have  followed  thy 
discourse  with  interest,  and  I  hope  with  understand- 
ing ;  yet  I  am  conscious  of  a  disadvantage.  I  do  not 
know  thy  name,  nor  if  thou  hast  a  title." 

"  Yes,  and  thou  mightest  have  set  down  in  the  table 
of  defaults,"  the  Wanderer  began  pleasantly  in  reply, 
but  broke  off  to  receive  the  cup  smoking  hot  from  the 
servant,  and  say — "Thanks,  Syama.  I  see  thy  hand 
hath  not  lost  its  deftness;  neither  has  the  green  leaf 
suffered  from  its  long  journey  over  the  sea." 

Uel  noticed  with  what  intentness  Syama  watched  the 
master's  lips  while  he  was  speaking,  and  the  gratifica- 
tion that  beamed  from  his  face  in  answer  to  the  compli- 
ment; and  he  thought,  "Verily  this  must  be  a  good 
man  to  be  so  beloved  by  his  dependents." 

"I  was  saying,  O  son  of  Jahdai,  that  thou  mightest 
have  set  down  the  other  points  of  information  equally 
necessary  to  our  intercourse — Whence  I  come  ?  And 


why  ?  And  I  will  not  leave  thee  in  the  dark  respect- 
ing them.  Only  let  me  caution  thee — It  is  not  required 
that  the  public  should  be  taken  into  our  confidence.  I 
have  seen  a  flower  good  to  look  upon,  but  viscous,  and 
with  a  scent  irresistible  to  insects.  That  flower  rep- 
resents the  world ;  and  what  is  the  folly  of  its  victims 
but  the  madness  of  men  who  yield  themselves  with  too 
easy  faith  to  the  seductions  of  the  world  ?  Nay,  my 
son — observe  thou  the  term — I  use  it  to  begin  the  rela- 
tionship I  seek — observe  also  I  begin  the  relationship 
by  confidences  which  were  unwisely  given  without  the 
injunction  that  they  are  intended  to  be  put  away  in 
thy  inner-conscience.  Tell  me  if  I  am  understood." 

The  question  was  emphasized  by  a  look  whose  mag- 
netism thrilled  Uel's  every  nerve. 

"  I  believe  I  understand  you,"  he  replied. 

Then,  as  if  the  Prince  knew  the  effect  he  had 
wrought,  and  that  it  relieved  him  from  danger  of 
betrayal,  he  returned  to  his  former  easy  manner. 

"  And  yet,  as  thou  shalt  see,  my  son,  the  confi- 
dences are  not  crimes — But  thy  cup  is  empty,  and 
Syama  waiting  for  it." 

"  The  drink  is  new  to  me,"  Uel  replied,  yielding  to 
the  invitation. 

"  New  ?  And  wilt  thou  not  also  say  it  is  better  than 
wine  ?  The  world  of  which  we  are  talking,  will  one 
day  take  up  the  admission,  and  be  happier  of  it." 

Turning  then  to  serious  matter : 

"  Afterwhile,"  he  said,  "thou  wilt  be  importuned 
by  the  curious  to  know  who  I  am,  and  thou  shouldst 
be  able  to  answer  according  to  the  fact — He  is  a  Prince 
of  India.  The  vulgar  will  be  satisfied  with  the  reply. 
Others  will  come  demanding  more.  Refer  them  to 
me.  As  to  thyself,  O  son  of  Jahdai,  call  me  as  I 
have  instructed  thee  to  speak  of  me — call  me  Prince. 


118 

At  the  same  time  I  would  have  thee  know  that  on  my 
eighth  day  I  was  carried  into  a  temple  and  registered 
a  son  of  a  son  of  Jerusalem.  The  title  I  give  thee  for 
my  designation  did  not  ennoble  me.  The  birthright  of 
a  circumcised  heritor  under  the  covenant  with  Israel 
is  superior  to  every  purely  human  dignity  whatever 
its  derivation." 

"In  other  words,  O  Prince,  thou  art" —  Uel  hesi- 
tated. 

"  A  Jew !  "  the  other  answered  promptly — "  A  Jew, 
as  thy  father  was — as  thou  art." 

The  look  of  pleasure  that  appeared  on  the  shop- 
keeper's face  was  swiftly  interpreted  by  the  Prince, 
who  felt  he  had  indeed  evoked  a  tie  of  blood,  and 
bound  the  man  with  it. 

"  So  much  is  despatched,"  he  said,  with  evident  sat- 
isfaction ;  then,  after  a  draught  from  the  tea-cup,  and 
a -re-delivery  to  Syarna  for  more,  he  continued:  "  Pos- 
sibly thou  wilt  also  remember  my  letter  mentions  a 
necessity  for  my  crossing  from  India  to  Mecca  on  the 
way  to  Kash-Cush,  and  that,  despite  the  stoppage,  I 
hoped  to  greet  thee  in  person  within  six  months  after 
Syama  reported  himself.  How  stands  the  time  ? " 

"  This  is  the  last  day  of  the  six  months,"  Uel  an- 
swered. 

"Yes,  there  was  never  man" — the  Prince  paused, 
as  if  the  thought  were  attended  with  a  painful  recol- 
lection— "  never  a  man,"  he  presently  resumed,  "  who 
kept  account  of  tune  more  exactly  than  myself." 

A  copious  draught  of  tea  assuaged  the  passing  re- 
gret. 

"  I  wrote  the  letter  while  in  Cipango,  an  island  of 
the  great  eastern  sea.  Thirty  years  after  I  set  foot 
upon  its  shore,  theretofore  un visited  by  a  white  man, 
a  countryman  of  ours  from  this  city,  the  sole  survivor 


119 

of  a  shipwreck,  joined  me.  From  him  I  heard  of  thy 
father's  death.  He  also  gave  me  thy  name.  .  .  . 
My  life  on  the  island  was  comparatively  untroubled. 
Indeed,  for  thy  perfect  comprehension,  my  son,  it  is 
best  to  make  an  explanation  now  ;  then  thou  wilt 
have  a  key  to  many  things  hi  my  conduct  to  come  as 
well  as  conduct  gone  which  would  otherwise  keep 
thee  in  doubtful  reflection.  The  study  of  greatest  in- 
terest is  religion.  I  have  travelled  the  world  over — 
I  mean  the  inhabited  parts — and  in  its  broad  extent 
there  is  not  a  people  without  worship  of  some  kind. 
Wherefore  my  assertion,  that  beyond  the  arts,  above 
the  sciences,  above  commerce,  above  any  or  all  other 
human  concernments,  religion  is  the  superlative  in- 
terest. It  alone  is  divine.  The  study  of  it  is  worship. 
Knowledge  of  it  is  knowledge  of  God.  Can  as  much 
be  said  of  any  other  subject  ? " 

Uel  did  not  answer;  he  was  following  the  speech 
too  intently,  and  the  Prince,  seeing  it,  drank  again, 
and  proceeded : 

"The  divine  study  took  me  to  Cipango.  Fifty 
years  thou  mayst  say  to  thyself  was  a  long  term  in 
such  a  country.  Not  so,  my  son.  I  found  there  two 
faiths;  the  one  Sin-Siu,  which  I  turned  my  back 
upon  as  mythologic,  without  the  poetry  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman ;  the  other — well,  a  lif e  given  to  the  laws 
of  Buddha  were  well  spent.  To  say  truth,  there  is 
such  similitude  between  them  and  the  teachings  of 
him  we  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  the  carpenter's  son 
that,  if  I  did  not  know  better,  it  were  easy  to  believe 
the  latter  spent  the  years  of  his  disappearance  in  some 
Buddhistic  temple.  .  .  .  Leaving  explanation  to 
another  time,  the  same  study  carried  me  to  Mecca. 
The  binding  of  men,  the  putting  yokes  about  their 
necks,  trampling  them  in  the  dust,  are  the  events  sup- 


120 

posed  most  important  and  therefore  most  noticeable 
in  history;  but  they  are  as  nothing  in  comparison 
with  winning  belief  in  matters  indeterminable  by 
familiar  tests.  The  process  there  is  so  mysterious,  the 
achievement  so  miraculous  that  where  the  operator  is 
vastly  successful  one  may  well  look  under  them  for 
the  permission  of  God.  The  day  was  when  Islamism 
did  but  stir  contemptuous  laughter;  now  it  is  the 
faith  acceptable  to  more  men  than  any  other.  Is  it 
not  worthy  the  vigils  of  a  student  ?  And  then  it  hap- 
pens, my  son,  that  in  the  depths  of  then*  delusion, 
people  sometimes  presume  to  make  their  own  gods, 
and  reform  them  or  cast  them  out.  Deities  have  been 
set  up  or  thrown  down  by  their  makers  in  the  changes 
of  a  moon.  I  wanted  to  see  if  such  calamity  had  be- 
fallen the  Allah  of  Mahomet.  .  .  .  My  going  to 
Kash-Cush  was  on  what  thou  wouldst  call  business, 
and  of  it  I  will  also  tell  thee.  At  Jedda,  whither  I 
betook  myself  after  making  the  pilgrimages  at  Mec- 
ca, I  regained  my  ship,  and  descended  the  Red  Sea, 
landing  at  a  village  on  the  extreme  inland  shore 
of  the  bay  of  Tajurrah,  below  the  Straits  of  Bab-el- 
Mandel.  I  was  then  in  Kash-Cush.  From  the  vil- 
lage on  the  coast,  I  passed  into  the  interior,  travel- 
ling in  a  litter  on  the  shoulders  of  native  porters, 
and,  after  many  days,  reached  my  destination — a  col- 
lection of  bungalows  pitched  on  the  bank  of  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Blue  Nile  called  the  Dedhesa.  The  jour- 
ney would  have  been  difficult  and  tedious  but  that 
one  of  my  attendants — a  black  man — had  been  king 
of  the  tribe  I  sought.  His  name  was  Nilo,  and  his 
tribe  paramount  throughout  the  uncivilized  parts  of 
Kash-Cush.  More  than  fifty  years  before, — prior,  in 
fact,  to  my  setting  out  for  Cipango, — I  made  the  same 
tour,  and  found  the  king.  He  gave  me  welcome ;  and 


121 

so  well  did  he  please  me  that  I  invited  him  to  share 
my  wanderings.  He  accepted  the  proposal  upon  con- 
dition that  in  his  old  age  he  should  be  returned  home, 
and  exchanged  for  a  younger  man  of  his  blood.  I 
agreed,  provided  one  younger  could  be  found  who,  be- 
sides the  requisite  physique  and  the  virtues  of  intellect 
and  courage,  was  also  deaf  and  dumb,  like  himself. 
A  treaty  was  thus  perfected.  I  call  it  a  treaty  as  dis- 
tinct from  a  purchase,  for  Nilo  was  my  friend  and 
attendant — my  ally,  if  you  please — never  my  slave. 
There  was  a  reception  for  us  the  like  of  which  for 
feasting  and  merriment  was  without  mention  in  the 
traditions  of  the  tribe.  A  grandson  filled  my  friend's 
throne ;  but  he  gave  it  back  to  him,  and  voluntarily 
took  his  place  with  me.  Thou  shalt  see  him  to-mor- 
row. I  call  him  Nilo,  and  spend  the  morning  hours 
teaching  him  to  talk;  for  while  he  keeps  me  re- 
minded of  a  Greek  demi-god — so  tall,  strong  and 
brave  is  he — he  is  yet  deaf  and  dumb,  and  has  to  be 
taught  as  Syama  was.  When  thou  hast  to  do  with 
him  be  gentte  and  courteous.  I  wish  it  kept  in  mind 
he  is  my  friend  and  ally,  bound  to  me  by  treaty  as 
his  grandfather  was.  .  .  .  The  only  part  of  the 
tour  given  thee  in  my  letter  which  I  omitted  was  the 
descent  of  the  Nile.  Having  performed  it  before,  my 
curiosity  was  sated,  and  I  allowed  my  impatience  to 
be  in  thy  city  here  to  determine  my  course.  I  made 
way  back  to  the  village  on  the  bay  of  Tajurrah  where, 
in  anticipation  of  such  a  change,  my  vessel  was  held 
in  detention.  Thence,  up  the  sea  and  across  the  Isth- 
mus, I  proceeded  to  Alexandria,  and  to-night  happily 
find  myself  at  home,  in  hope  of  rest  for  my  body  and 
renewal  of  my  spirit." 

With  this,  the  explanation  appeared  concluded ;  for 
the  Prince  notified  Syama  that  he  did  not  desire  more 


133 

tea,  and  lapsed  into  a  thoughtful  silence.  Presently 
Uel  arose,  saying:  "You  must  be  weary.  With  per- 
mission I  will  take  my  leave  now.  I  confess  you 
have  given  me  much  to  think  over,  and  made  me 
happy  hy  taking  me  into  your  confidence.  If  it  be 
agreeable,  I  will  call  at  noon  to-morrow." 

The  Prince  went  with  him  to  the  head  of  the  stairs, 
and  there  bade  him  peace  and  good-night. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   ROSE  OF  SPRING 

THE  Prince,  as  the  Jew  preferred  to  be  called,  kept 
his  house  closely  quite  a  month,  resting,  not  hiber- 
nating. He  took  exercise  daily  on  the  flat  roof ;  and 
walking  to  and  fro  there,  found  three  objects  of  attrac- 
tion :  the  hill  to  the  southwest  with  the  church  upon 
it,  the  Palace  of  Blacherne  off  further  in  the  west,  and 
the  Tower  of  Galata.  The  latter,  across  the  Golden 
Horn  in  the  north,  arose  boldly,  like  a  light-house  on 
a  cliff ;  yet,  for  a  reason — probably  because  it  had  con- 
nection with  the  subject  of  his  incessant  meditations- 
he  paused  oftenest  to  gaze  at  the  Palace. 

He  was  in  his  study  one  day  deeply  absorbed.  The 
sun,  nearing  meridian,  poured  a  stream  of  white  light 
through  the  south  window,  flooding  the  table  at  which 
he  sat.  That  the  reader  may  know  something  of  the 
paths  the  Mystic  most  frequented  when  in  meditation, 
we  will  make  free  with  one  of  the  privileges  belonging 
to  us  as  a  chronicler. 

The  volume  directly  in  front  of  him  on  the  table, 
done  hi  oh' ve  wood  strengthened  at  the  corners  with 
silver,  was  near  two  feet  in  length,  and  one  and  a  half 
in  width;  when  closed,  it  would  be  about  one  foot 
thick.  Now  he  had  many  wonderful,  rare,  and  rich 
antiques,  but  none  so  the  apple  of  his  eye  as  this  ;  for 
it  was  one  of  the  fifty  Holy  Bibles  of  Greek  transcrip- 
tion ordered  by  Constantine  the  Great. 


134 

At  his  right,  held  flat  by  weights,  were  the  Sacred 
Books  of  China,  in  form  a  roll  of  broad-leafed  vellum. 

At  his  left,  a  roll  somewhat  similar  in  form  and  at 
the  moment  open,  lay  the  Rig- Veda  of  the  Aryans  in 
Sanscrit. 

The  fourth  book  was  the  Avesta  of  Zoroaster — a 
collection  of  MSS.  stitched  together,  and  exquisitely 
rendered  by  Parse  devas  into  the  Zend  language. 

A  fifth  book  was  the  Koran. 

The  arrangement  of  the  volumes  around  the  Judean 
Bible  was  silently  expressive  of  the  student's  superior 
respect;  and  as  from  time  to  time,  after  reading  a 
paragraph  from  one  of  the  others,  he  returned  to  the 
great  central  treasure,  it  was  apparent  he  was  making 
a  close  comparison  of  texts  with  reference  to  a  partic- 
ular theme,  using  the  Scriptures  as  a  standard.  Most 
of  the  time  he  kept  the  forefinger  of  his  left  hand  on 
what  is  now  known  as  the  fourteenth  verse  of  the  third 
chapter  of  Exodus — "And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I 
AM  THAT  I  AM  :  and  he  said,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 
If,  as  the  Prince  himself  had  declared,  religion  were 
indeed  the  study  of  most  interest  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  men,  he  was  logically  consistent  in  comparing 
the  definitions  of  God  in  the  Bibles  of  theistic  nations. 
So  had  he  occupied  himself  since  morning.  The 
shrewd  reader  will  at  once  discern  the  theme  of  his 
comparative  study. 

At  length  he  grew  weary  of  bending  over  the  books, 
and  of  the  persistent  fixedness  of  attention  required  for 
the  pursuit  of  fine  shades  of  meaning  in  many  differ- 
ent languages.  He  threw  his  arms  up  in  aid  of  a 
yawn,  and  turned  partly  around,  his  eyes  outrunning 
the  movement  of  his  body.  The  half-introverted 
glance  brightened  with  a  gleam,  and  remained  fixed, 


125 

while  the  arms  dropped  down.  He  could  only  look 
in  wonder  at  what  he  saw — eyes  black  and  almost 
large  as  his  own  gazing  at  him  in  timid  surprise. 
Beholding  nothing  but  the  eyes,  he  had  the  awesome 
feeling  which  attends  imagining  a  spirit  suddenly 
risen ;  then  he  saw  a  forehead  low,  round,  and  white, 
half  shaded  by  fluffs  of  dark  hair;  then  a  face  of 
cherubic  color  and  regularity,  to  which  the  eyes  gave 
an  indefinable  innocency  of  expression. 

Every  one  knows  the  effect  of  trifles  on  the  mem- 
ory. A  verse  or  a  word,  the  smell  of  a  flower,  a  lock 
of  hair,  a  turn  in  music,  will  not  merely  bring  the 
past  back,  but  invest  it  with  a  miraculous  recur- 
rency  of  events.  The  Prince's  gaze  endured.  He 
stretched  his  hand  out  as  if  fearful  lest  what  he  saw 
might  vanish.  The  gesture  was  at  once  an  impulse 
and  an  expression.  There  was  a  time — tradition  says 
it  was  the  year  in  which  he  provoked  the  curse — when 
he  had  wife  and  child.  To  one  of  them,  possibly 
both,  the  eyes  then  looking  into  his  might,  have  be- 
longed. The  likeness  unmanned  him.  The  hand  he 
stretched  forth  fell  lightly  upon  the  head  of  the  in- 
truder. 

"  What  are  you  ? "  he  said. 

The  vagueness  of  the  expression  will  serve  excel- 
lently as  a  definition  of  his  condition;  at  the  same 
time  it  plunged  the  child  addressed  into  doubt.  Pres- 
ently she  answered : 

"I  am  a  little  girl." 

Accepting  the  simplicity  of  the  reply  as  evidence  of 
innocency  too  extreme  for  fear,  he  took  the  visitor  in 
his  arms,  and  sat  her  on  his  knee. 

"  I  did  not  mean  to  ask  what  you  are,  but  who  ? n 
he  said. 

"Uel  is  my  father." 


136 

"  Uel  ?  Well,  he  is  my  friend,  and  I  am  his ;  therefore 
you  and  I  should  be  friends.  What  is  your  name  ? " 

"He  calls  me  Gul-Bahar." 

"  Oh !  That  is  Turkish,  and  means  Rose  of  Spring. 
How  came  you  by  it  ? " 

"My  mother  was  from  Iconium." 

"  Yes — where  the  Sultans  used  to  live." 

"  And  she  could  speak  Turkish." 

"I  see!  Gul-Bahar  is  an  endearment,  not  a  real 
name." 

"  My  real  name  is  Lael." 

The  Prince  paled  from  cheek  to  brow ;  his  lips  trem- 
bled ;  the  arm  encircling  her  shook ;  and  looking  into 
his  eyes,  she  saw  tears  dim  them.  After  a  long  breath, 
he  said,  with  inexpressible  tenderness,  and  as  if  speak- 
ing to  one  standing  just  behind  her — "  Lael ! "  Then, 
the  tears  full  formed,  he  laid  his  forehead  on  her 
shoulder  so  his  white  hair  blent  freely  with  her  chest- 
nut locks;  and  sitting  passively,  but  wondering,  she 
heard  him  sob  and  sob  again  and  again,  like  another 
child.  Soon,  from  pure  sympathy,  unknowing  why, 
she  too  began  sobbing.  Several  minutes  passed  thus ; 
then,  raising  his  face,  and  observing  her  responsive 
sorrow,  he  felt  the  need  of  explanation. 

"Forgive  me,"  he  said,  kissing  her,  "and  do  not 
wonder  at  me.  I  am  old — very  old — older  than  thy 
father,  and  there  have  been  so  many  things  to  distress 
me  which  other  men  know  nothing  of,  and  never  can. 
I  had  once  " — 

He  stopped,  repeated  the  long  breath,  and  gazed  as 
at  a  far  object. 

"  I  too  had  once  a  little  girl." 

Pausing,  he  dropped  his  eyes  to  hers. 

"  How  old  are  you  ? " 

"Next  spring  I  shall  be  fourteen,"  she  answered 


127 

"  And  she  was  just  your  age,  and  so  like  you — so 
l,  and  with  such  hair  and  eyes  and  face ;  and  she 
was  named  Lael.  I  wanted  to  call  her  Rimah,  for 
she  seemed  a  song  to  me ;  but  her  mother  said,  as  she 
was  a  gift  from  the  Lord,  she  wanted  in  the  f illness  of 
days  to  give  her  back  to  him,  and  that  the  wish  might 
become  a  covenant,  she  insisted  on  calling  her  Lael, 
which,  hi  Hebrew — thy  father's  tongue  and  mine — • 
means  To  God." 

The  child,  listening  with  all  her  soul,  was  now  not 
in  the  least  afraid  of  him ;  without  waiting,  she  made 
the  application. 

"  You  loved  her,  I  know,"  she  said. 

"  How  much — Oh,  how  much ! " 

"  Where  is  she  now  ? " 

1 '  At  Jerusalem  there  was  a  gate  called  the  Golden 
Gate.  It  looked  to  the  east.  The  sun,  rising  over  the 
top  of  Mount  Olivet,  struck  the  plates  of  gold  and 
Corinthian  brass  more  precious  than  gold,  so  it  seemed 
one  rosy  flame.  The  dust  at  its  rocky  sill,  and  the 
ground  about  it  are  holy.  There,  deep  down,  my 
Lael  lies.  A  stone  that  tasked  many  oxen  to  move  it 
covers  her ;  yet,  in  the  last  day,  she  will  be  among  the 
first  to  rise — Of  such  excellence  is  it  to  be  buried  be- 
fore that  Golden  Gate." 

' '  Oh !  she  is  dead !  "  the  child  exclaimed. 

"She  is  dead;"  and  seeing  her  much  affected,  he 
hastened  to  say,  "I  shed'  many  tears  thinking  of  her. 
Ah,  how  gentle  and  truthful  she  was!  And  how 
beautiful!  I  cannot  forget  her.  I  would  not  if  I 
could;  but  you  who  look  so  like  her  will  take  her 
place  in  my  heart  now,  and  love  me  as  she  did ;  and 
I  will  love  you  even  as  I  loved  her.  I  will  take  you 
into  my  life,  believing  she  has  come  again.  In  the 
morning  I  will  ask  first,  Where  is  my  Lael  ?  At  noon, 


128 

I  will  demand  if  the  day  has  been  kind  to  her ;  and 
the  night  shall  not  be  half  set  in  except  I  know  it  has 
brought  her  the  sweetness  of  sleep.  Will  you  be  my 
Lael?" 

The  question  perplexed  the  child,  and  she  was  silent. 

Again  he  asked,  "Will  you  be  my  Lael  ? " 

The  earnestness  with  which  he  put  the  question  was 
that  of  a  hunger  less  for  love  than  an  object  to  love. 
The  latter  is  not  often  accounted  a  passion,  yet  it  creates 
necessities  which  are  peremptory  as  those  of  any  pas- 
sion. One  of  the  incidents  of  the  curse  he  was  suffer- 
ing was  that  he  knew  the  certainty  of  the  coming  of 
a  day  when  he  must  be  a  mourner  for  whomsoever  he 
should  take  into  his  heart,  and  in  this  way  expiate 
whatever  happiness  the  indulgence  might  bring  him. 
Nevertheless  the  craving  endured,  at  times  a  positive 
hunger.  In  other  words,  his  was  still  a  human  nature. 
The  simplicity  and  beauty  of  the  girl  were  enough  to 
win  him  of  themselves ;  but  when  she  reminded  him 
of  the  other  asleep  under  a  great  rock  before  the  gate 
of  the  Holy  City,  when  the  name  of  the  lost  one  was 
brought  to  him  so  unexpectedly,  it  seemed  there  had 
been  a  resurrection,  making  it  possible  for  him  to  go 
about  once  more  as  he  was  accustomed  to  in  his  first 
household.  A  third  time  he  asked,  "You  will  be  my 
Lael?" 

"  Can  I  have  two  fathers  ? "  she  returned. 

"Oh,  yes!"  he  answered  quickly.  "One  in  fact, 
the  other  by  adoption ;  and  they  can  both  love  you  the 
same." 

Immediately  her  face  became  a  picture  of  childish 
trust. 

"Then  I  will  be  your  Lael  too." 

He  clasped  her  close  to  his  breast,  and  kissed  her, 
crying: 


129 

' '  My  Lael  has  come  back  to  me !  God  of  my  fathers^ 
Ithankthee!" 

She  respected  his  emotion,  but  at  length,  with  her 
hand  upon  his  shoulder,  said : 

"You  and  my  father  are  friends,  and  thinking  he 
came  here,  I  came  too." 

"Is  he  at  home?" 

"I  think  so." 

"  Then  we  will  go  to  him.  You  cannot  be  my  Lael 
without  his  consent." 

Presently,  hand  in  hand,  they  descended  the  stairs, 
crossed  the  street,  and  were  in  the  shopkeeper's  pres- 
ence. 

The  room  was  plainly  but  comfortably  furnished 
as  became  the  proprietor's  fortune  and  occupation. 
Closer  acquaintance,  it  is  to  be  said,  had  dissipated  the 
latent  dread,  which,  as  has  been  seen,  marked  Uel's 
first  thought  of  intimacy  between  the  stranger  and  the 
child.  Seeing  him  old,  and  rich,  and  given  to  study, 
not  to  say  careless  of  ordinary  things,  the  father  was 
beginning  to  entertain  the  idea  that  it  might  in  some 
way  be  of  advantage  to  the  child  could  she  become  an 
object  of  interest  to  him.  Wherefore,  as  they  entered 
now,  he  received  them  with  a  smile. 

Traces  of  the  emotion  he  had  undergone  were  in  the 
Prince's  face,  and  when  he  spoke  his  voice  was  tremu- 
lous. 

"Son  of  Jahdai,"  he  said,  standing,  "I  had  once  a 
wife  and  child.  They  perished — how  and  when,  I 
cannot  trust  myself  to  tell.  I  have  been  faithful  to 
their  memory.  From  the  day  I  lost  them,  I  have  gone 
up  and  down  the  world  hunting  for  many  things  which 
I  imagined  might  renew  the  happiness  I  had  from 
them.  I  have  been  prodigal  of  gratitude,  admiration, 
friendship,  and  goodwill,  and  bestowed  them  singly 
9 


130 

and  together,  and  often ;  but  never  have  I  been  with- 
out consciousness  of  something  else  demanding  to  be 
given.  Happiness  is  not  all  in  receiving.  I  passed  on 
a  long  time  before  it  came  to  me  that  we  are  rich  in 
affections  not  intended  for  hoarding,  and  that  no  one 
can  be  truly  content  without  at  least  one  object  on 
which  to  lavish  them.  Here  " — and  he  laid  his  hand 
on  the  child's  head — "here  is  mine,  found  at  last." 

"  Lael  is  a  good  girl,"  Uel  said  with  pride. 

"  Yes,  and  as  thou  lovest  her  let  me  love  her,"  the 
Prince  responded.  Then,  seeing  Uel  become  serious, 
he  added,  ' '  To  help  thee  to  my  meaning,  Lael  was 
my  child's  name,  and  she  was  the  image  of  this  one ; 
and  as  she  died  when  fourteen,  thy  Lael's  age,  it  is  to 
me  as  if  the  tomb  had  miraculously  rendered  its  vic- 
tim back  to  me." 

"  Prince,"  said  Uel,  "  had  I  thought  she  would  not 
be  agreeable  to  you,  I  should  have  been  sorry." 

"  Understand,  son  of  Jahdai,"  the  other  interposed, 
"  I  seek  more  of  thee  than  thy  permission  to  love  her. 
I  want  to  do  by  her  as  though  she  were  mine  natu- 
rally." 

"  You  would  not  take  her  from  me  ?  " 

"  No.  That  would  leave  thee  bereft  as  I  have  been. 
Like  me,  thou  wouldst  then  go  up  and  down  looking 
for  some  one  to  take  her  place  in  thy  heart.  Be  thou 
her  father  still;  only  let  me  help  thee  fashion  her 
future." 

"  Her  birthrights  are  humble,"  the  shopkeeper  an- 
swered, doubtfully;  for  while  in  his  secret  heart  he 
was  nattered,  his  paternal  feeling  started  a  scruple 
hard  to  distinguish  from  fear. 

A  light  shone  brightly  in  the  eyes  of  the  elder  Jew, 
and  his  head  arose. 

"  Humble !  "  he  said.    "  She  is  a  daughter  of  Israel, 


181 

an  inheritor  of  the  favor  of  the  Lord  God,  to  whom 
all  things  are  possible.  He  keeps  the  destinies  of  his 
people.  He — not  thou  or  I — knows  to  what  this  little 
one  may  come.  As  we  love  her,  let  us  hope  the  hap- 
piest and  the  highest,  and  prepare  her  for  it.  To  this 
end  it  were  best  you  allow  her  to  come  to  me  as  to 
another  father.  I  who  teach  the  deaf  and  dumb  to 
speak — Syama  and  Nilo  the  elder — will  make  her  a 
scholar  such  as  does  not  often  grace  a  palace.  She 
shall  speak  the  Mediterranean  tongues.  There  shall 
be  no  mysteries  of  India  unknown  to  her.  Mathe- 
matics shall  bring  the  heavens  to  her  feet.  Especially 
shall  she  become  wise  in  the  Chronicles  of  God.  At 
the  same  time,  lest  she  be  educated  into  unfltness  for 
the  present  conditions  of  life,  and  be  unsexed,  thou 
si  ml  t  find  a  woman  familiar  with  society,  and  instal 
her  in  thy  house  as  governess  and  example.  If  the 
woman  be  also  of  Israel,  so  much  the  better ;  for  then 
we  may  expect  faithfulness  without  jealousy.  And 
further,  son  of  Jahdai,  be  niggardly  hi  nothing  con- 
cerning our  Lael.  Clothe  her  as  she  were  the  King's 
daughter.  At  going  abroad,  which  she  shall  do  with 
me  in  the  street  and  on  the  water,  I  would  have  her 
sparkle  with  jewels,  the  observed  of  everybody,  even 
the  Emperor.  And  ask  not  doubtingly,  '  Whence  the 
money  for  all  this  ? '  I  will  find  it.  What  sayest 
thou  now  ?  " 

Uel  did  not  hesitate. 

"  O  Prince,  as  thou  dost  these  things  for  her — so  far 
beyond  the  best  I  can  dream  of — take  her  for  thine, 
not  less  than  mine." 

With  a  beaming  countenance,  the  elder  raised  the 
child,  and  kissed  her  on  the  forehead. 

"  Dost  hear  ?  "  he  said  to  her.  "  Now  art  thou  my 
daughter." 


188 

She  put  her  arms  about  his  neck,  then  held  them 
out  to  Uel,  who  took  her,  and  kissed  her,  saying : 

"Oh  my  Gul-Bahar!" 

"Good!"  cried  the  Prince.  "I  accept  the  name. 
To  distinguish  the  living  from  the  dead,  I  too  will 
call  her  my  Gul-Bahar." 

Thereupon  the  men  sat,  and  arranged  the  new  rela- 
tion, omitting  nothing  possible  of  anticipation. 

Next  day  the  Prince's  house  was  opened  with  every 
privilege  to  the  child.  A  little  later  on  a  woman  of 
courtly  accomplishment  was  found  and  established 
under  Uel's  roof  as  governess.  Thereupon  the  Mystic 
entered  upon  a  season  during  which  he  forgot  the 
judgment  upon  him,  and  all  else  save  Gul-Bahar, 
and  the  scheme  he  brought  from  Cipango.  He  was 
for  the  time  as  other  men.  In  the  lavishment  of  his 
love,  richer  of  its  long  accumulation,  he  was  faithful 
to  his  duty  of  teacher,  and  was  amply  rewarded  by 
her  progress  in  study. 


BOOK  m 

THE  PRINCESS  ffiENE 


CHAPTER  I 

MORNING   ON  THE  BOSPHORTJ8 

OUR  narrative  proceeds  now  from  a  day  in  the  third 
year  after  Lael,  the  daughter  of  the  son  of  Jahdai, 
dropped  into  the  lif  e  of  the  Prince  of  India — a  day  in 
the  vernal  freshness  of  June. 

From  a  low  perch  above  the  mountain  behind  Becos, 
the  sun  is  delivering  the  opposite  European  shore  of 
the  Bosphorus  from  the  lingering  shades  of  night. 
Out  on  the  bosom  of  the  classic  channel  vessels  are 
swinging  lazily  at  then*  anchorages.  The  masthead 
of  each  displays  a  flag  bespeaking  the  nationality  of 
the  owner ;  here  a  Venetian,  there  a  Genoese,  yonder 
a  Byzantine.  Tremulous  flares  of  mist,  rising  around 
the  dark  hulls,  become  entangled  in  the  cordage,  and 
as  if  there  were  no  other  escape,  resolve  themselves 
into  air.  Fisher  boats  are  bringing  their  owners  home 
from  night-work  over  in  the  shallows  of  Indjerkeui. 
Gulls  and  cormorants  in  contentious  flocks,  drive 
hither  and  thither,  turning  and  tacking  as  the  schools 
of  small  fish  they  are  following  turn  and  tack  down 
in  the  warm  blue-green  depths  to  which  they  are 
native.  The  many  wings,  in  quick  eccentric  motion, 
give  sparkling  life  to  the  empurpled  distance. 

The  bay  of  Therapia,  on  the  same  European  shore 
over  against  Becos,  was  not  omitted  from  rescue  by 
the  sun.  Within  its  lines  this  morning  the  ships  were 


136 

in  greater  number  than  out  in  the  channel — ships  of 
all  grades,  from  the  sea-going  commercial  galley  to  the 
pleasure  shallop  which,  if  not  the  modern  caique,  was 
at  least  its  ante-type  in  lightness  and  grace. 

And  as  to  the  town,  one  had  but  to  look  at  it  to  be 
sure  it  had  undergone  no  recent  change — that  in  the 
day  of  Constantine  Dragases  it  was  the  same  summer 
resort  it  had  been  in  the  day  of  Medea  the  sorceress — 
the  same  it  yet  is  under  sway  of  the  benignant  Abdul- 
Hamid. 

From  the  lower  point  northwardly  jutting  finger- 
like  into  the  current  of  the  channel,  the  beach  swept 
in  a  graceful  curve  around  to  the  base  of  the  promon- 
tory on  the  south.  Then  as  now  children  amused 
themselves  gathering  the  white  and  black  pebbles  with 
which  it  was  strewn,  and  danced  in  and  out  with  the 
friendly  foam-capped  waves.  Then  as  now  the  houses 
seemed  tied  to  the  face  of  the  hill  one  above  another  in 
streetless  disarrangement ;  insomuch  that  the  stranger 
viewing  them  from  his  boat  below  shuddered  thinking 
of  the  wild  play  which  would  ensue  did  an  earthquake 
shake  the  hill  ever  so  lightly. 

And  then  as  now  the  promontory  south  served  the 
bay  as  a  partial  land-lock.  Then  as  now  it  arose 
boldly  a  half-mountain  densely  verdurous,  leaving 
barely  space  enough  for  a  roadway  around  its  base. 
Then  as  now  a  descending  terrace  of  easy  grade  and 
lined  with  rock  pine  trees  of  broadest  umbrella  tops, 
slashed  its  whole  townward  front.  Sometime  in  the 
post-Medean  period  a  sharp-eyed  Greek  discerned 
the  advantages  it  offered  for  aesthetic  purposes,  and 
availed  himself  of  them;  so  that  in  the  age  of  our 
story  its  summit  was  tastefully  embellished  with  water 
basins,  white-roofed  pavilions,  and  tessellated  pave 
ments  Roman  style.  Alas,  for  the  perishability  of 


137 

things  human!  And  twice  alas,  that  the  beautiful 
should  ever  be  the  most  perishable ! 

But  it  is  now  to  be  said  we  have  spoken  thus  of  the 
Bosphorus,  and  the  bay  and  town  of  Therapia,  and  the 
high  promontory,  as  accessories  merely  to  a  plot  of 
ground  under  the  promontory  and  linked  to  it  by  the 
descending  terrace.  There  is  no  word  fitly  descrip- 
tive of  the  place.  Ravine  implies  narrowness ;  gorge 
signifies  depth ;  valley  means  width ;  dell  is  too  toy- 
like.  A  summer  retreat  more  delicious  could  not  be 
imagined.  Except  at  noon  the  sun  did  but  barely 
glance  into  it.  Extending  hundreds  of  yards  back 
from  the  bay  toward  the  highlands  west  of  the  town, 
it  was  a  perfected  garden  of  roses  and  flowering  vines 
and  shrubs,  with  avenues  of  boxwood  and  acacias 
leading  up  to  ample  reservoirs  hidden  away  in  a  grove 
of  beeches.  The  water  flowing  thence  became  brooks 
or  was  diverted  to  enliven  fountains.  One  pipe 
carried  it  in  generous  flow  to  the  summit  of  the  prom- 
ontory. In  this  leafy  Eden  the  birds  of  the  climate 
made  their  home  the  year  round.  There  the  migra- 
tory nightingale  came  earliest  and  lingered  longest, 
singing  in  the  day  as  well  as  in  the  night.  There  one 
went  regaled  with  the  breath  of  roses  commingled 
with  that  of  the  jasmine.  There  the  bloom  of  the 
pomegranate  flashed  through  the  ordered  thicket  like 
red  stars;  there  the  luscious  fig,  ripening  in  its  "beg- 
gar's jacket,"  offered  itself  for  the  plucking;  there  the 
murmur  of  the  brooks  was  always  in  the  listening 
ear. 

Along  the  whole  front  of  the  garden,  so  perfectly  a 
poet's  ideal,  stretched  a  landing  defended  from  the 
incessant  swash  of  the  bay  by  a  stone  revetment. 
There  was  then  a  pavement  of  smoothly  laid  flags, 
and  then  a  higher  wall  of  dark  rubble-work,  coped 


with  bevelled  slabs.  An  open  pavilion,  with  a  bell- 
fashioned  dome  on  slender  pillars,  all  of  wood  red 
painted,  gave  admission  to  the  garden.  Then  a  road- 
way of  gray  pebbles  and  flesh-tinted  shells  invited  a 
visitor,  whether  afoot  or  on  horseback,  through  clumps 
of  acacias  undergrown  with  carefully  tended  rose- 
bushes, to  a  palace,  which  was  to  the  garden  what  the 
central  jewel  is  to  the  cluster  of  stones  on  "my  lady's  " 
ring. 

Standing  on  a  tumulus,  a  little  removed  from  the 
foot  of  the  promontory,  the  palace  could  be  seen  from 
cornice  to  base  by  voyagers  on  the  bay,  a  quadrangu- 
lar pile  of  dressed  marble  one  story  in  height,  its 
front  relieved  by  a  portico  of  many  pillars  finished  in 
the  purest  Corinthian  style.  A  stranger  needed  only 
to  look  at  it  once,  glittering  in  the  sun,  creamy  white 
in  the  shade,  to  decide  that  its  owner  was  of  high 
rank — possibly  a  noble — possibly  the  Emperor  himself . 

It  was  the  country  palace  of  the  Princess  Irene,  of 
whom  we  will  now  speak.* 

*  During  the  Crimean  war  a  military  hospital  was  built  over  the  base- 
ment vaults  and  cisterns  of  the  palace  here  described.  The  hospital  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  For  years  it  was  then  known  as  the  "  Khedive's  Gar- 
den," being  a  favorite  resort  for  festive  parties  from  the  capital.  At  pres- 
ent the  promontory  and  the  retreat  it  shelters  pertain  to  the  German 
.Embassy,  a  munificent  gift  from  His  Majesty,  Sultan  Abdul-ilamid. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE   PRINCESS   IRENE  * 

DURING  the  reign  of  the  last  Manuel,  in  1412,  as  a 
writer  has  placed  the  incident — that  is  to  say,  about 
thirty-nine  years  prior  to  the  epoch  occupying  us — a 
naval  battle  occurred  between  the  Turks  and  Chris- 
tians off  Plati,  one  of  the  Isles  of  the  Princes.  The 
issue  was  of  interest  to  all  the  peoples  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  commercial  resort  in  the  region,  to  the  Vene- 
tians and  Genoese  as  well  as  the  Byzantines.  To  the 
latter  it  was  of  most  vital  moment,  since  defeat  would 
have  brought  them  a  serious  interruption  of  communi- 
cation with  the  islands  which  still  remained  to  the 
Emperor  and  the  powers  in  the  West  upon  which  their 
dependency  grew  as  year  after  year  their  capacity  for 
self-defence  diminished. 

The  Turkish  ships  had  been  visible  in  the  offing  sev- 
eral days.  At  last  the  Emperor  concluded  to  allow  his 
mariners  to  go  out  and  engage  them.  His  indecision 
had  been  from  a  difficulty  in  naming  a  commander. 
The  admiral  proper  was  old  and  inexperienced,  and 
his  fighting  impulses,  admitting  they  had  ever  really 
existed,  had  been  lost  in  the  habitudes  of  courtierly 
life.  He  had  become  little  more  than  a  ceremonial 
marker.  The  need  of  the  hour  was  a  genuine  sailor 
who  could  manoeuvre  a  squadron.  On  that  score 

*  This  name  is  of  three  syllables,  and  is  pronounced  as  if  spelled 
E-ren-ay  ;  the  last  syllable  to  rhyme  with  day,  say,  may. 


140 

there  was  but  one  voice  among  the  seamen  and  with 
the  public — 

"  Manuel — give  us  Manuel !  " 

The  cry,  passing  from  the  ships  to  the  multitude  in 
the  city,  assailed  the  palace. 

The  reader  should  understand  the  Manuel  wanted 
was  not  the  Emperor,  but  one  of  his  brothers  who 
could  lay  no  claim  to  birth  in  the  purple.  His  mother 
had  not  been  a  lawful  spouse ;  yet  the  Manuel  thus  on 
the  tongues  of  the  many  had  made  a  hero  of  himself. 
He  proved  his  temper  and  abilities  in  many  successful 
affairs  on  the  sea,  and  at  length  became  a  popular 
idol ;  insomuch  that  the  imperial  jealousy  descended 
upon  him  like  a  cloud,  and  hid  him  away.  Nor  could 
his  admirers  say  he  lived ;  he  had  a  palace  and  a  fam- 
ily, and  it  was  not  known  that  any  of  the  monasteries 
in  the  city  or  on  the  Isles  of  the  Princes  had  opened 
to  receive  him. 

On  these  shreds  of  evidence,  affirmative  and  nega- 
tive, slender  as  they  may  appear,  it  was  believed  he 
was  yet  alive.  Hence  the  clamor ;  and  sooth  to  say  it 
sufficed  to  produce  the  favorite ;  so  at  least  the  com- 
monalty were  pleased  to  think,  though  a  sharper  spec- 
ulation would  have  scored  the  advent  quite  as  much 
to  the  emergency  then  holding  the  Empire  in  ita 
tightening  grip. 

Restored  to  active  life,  Manuel  the  sailor  was  given 
a  reception  in  the  Hippodrome ;  then  after  a  moment 
of  gladness  with  his  family,  and  another  in  which  he 
was  informed  of  the  situation  and  trial  before  him,  he 
hurried  to  assume  the  command. 

Next  morning,  with  the  rising  of  the  sun,  the  squad- 
ron under  oar  and  sail  issued  gallantly  from  its  re- 
treat in  the  Golden  Horn,  and  in  order  of  battle 
sought  the  boastful  enemy  off  Plati.  The  struggle 


141 

was  long  and  desperate.  Its  circumstances  were 
dimly  under  view  from  the  seaward  wall  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Seven  Towers.  A  cry  of  rejoicing 
from  the  anxious  people  at  last  rose  strong  enough 
to  shake  the  turrets  massive  as  they  were — "Kyrie 
Eleison !  Kyrie  Eleison  ! "  Christ  had  made  his 
cause  victorious!  His  Cross  was  in  the  ascendant. 
The  Turks  drew  out  of  the  defeat  as  best  they  could, 
and  made  haste  to  beach  the  galleys  remaining  to 
them  on  the  Asiatic  shore  behind  the  low-lying  isl- 
ands. 

Manuel  the  sailor  became  more  than  a  hero ;  to  the 
vulgar  he  was  a  savior.  All  Byzantium  and  all  Galata 
assembled  on  the  walls  and  water  along  the  famous 
harbor  to  welcome  him  when,  with  many  prizes  and 
a  horde  of  prisoners,  he  sailed  back  under  the  sun 
newly  risen  over  the  redeemed  Propontis.  Trumpets 
answered  trumpets  in  brazen  cheer  as  he  landed.  A 
procession  which  was  a  reminder  of  the  triumphs  of 
the  ancient  and  better  times  of  the  Empire  escorted 
hun  to  the  Hippodrome.  The  overhanging  gallery 
reserved  for  the  Emperor  there  was  crowded  with  the 
dignitaries  of  the  court;  the  factions  were  out  with 
their  symbols  of  blue  and  green ;  the  scene  was  gor- 
geous ;  yet  the  public  looked  in  vain  for  Manuel  the 
Emperor ;  he  alone  was  absent ;  and  when  the  disper- 
sion took  place,  the  Byzantine  spectators  sought  their 
homes  shaking  their  heads  and  muttering  of  things 
in  store  for  their  idol  worse  than  had  yet  befallen 
him.  Wherefore  there  was  little  or  no  surprise  when 
the  unfortunate  again  disappeared,  this  time  with  his 
whole  family.  The  victory,  the  ensuing  triumph, 
and  the  too  evident  popularity  were  more  than  the 
jealous  Emperor  could  overlook. 

There  was  then  a  long  lapse  of  years.    John  Palaeo- 


142 

logus  succeeded  Manuel  on  the  throne,  and  was  in 
turn  succeeded  by  Constantino,  the  last  of  the  Byzan- 
tine monarchs. 

Constantine  signalized  his  advent,  the  great  Greek 
event  of  1448,  by  numerous  acts  of  clemency,  for  he 
was  a  just  man.  He  opened  many  prison  doors  long 
hopelessly  shut.  He  conferred  honors  and  rewards 
that  had  been  remorselessly  erased  from  account.  He 
condoned  offences  against  his  predecessors,  mercifully 
holding  them  wanting  in  evil  against  himself.  So  it 
came  to  pass  that  Manuel,  the  hero  of  the  sea  fight  off 
Plati,  attained  a  second  release,  or,  in  better  speech,  a 
second  resurrection.  He  had  been  all  the  years  prac- 
tically buried  in  certain  cells  of  the  convent  of  St. 
Irene  on  the  island  of  Prinkipo,  and  now  he  came 
forth  an  old  man,  blind  and  too  enfeebled  to  walk. 
Borne  into  private  audience,  he  was  regarded  by  Con- 
stantine with  tender  sympathy. 

"And  thou  art  that  Manuel  who  made  the  good 
fight  at  Plati  ? " 

"Say  rather  I  am  he  who  was  that  Manuel,"  the 
ancient  replied.  "  Death  despises  me  now  because  he 
could  not  call  my  decease  a  victory." 

The  inquisitor,  visibly  affected,  next  spoke  in  an 
uncertain  voice. 

"  Is  what  I  have  heard  true,  that  at  thy  going  into 
the  Monastery  thou  hadst  a  family  ? " 

The  eyes  of  the  unfortunate  were  not  too  far  gone 
for  tears;  some  rolled  down  his  cheeks;  others  ap- 
parently dropped  into  his  throat. 

"I  had  a  wife  and  three  children.  It  is  creditable 
to  the  feeling  called  love  that  they  chose  to  share  my 
fate.  One  only  survives,  and  " — he  paused  as  if  feebly 
aware  of  the  incoherency — "  and  she  was  born  a  pris- 
oner." 


143 

' '  Bom  a  prisoner ! "  exclaimed  Constantine.  ' '  Where 
is  she  now  ? " 

"  She  ought  to  be  here." 

The  old  man  turned  as  he  spoke,  and  called  out 
anxiously : 

"  Irene — Irene,  where  art  thou,  child  ?  " 

An  attendant,  moved  like  his  master,  explained. 

"Your  Majesty,  his  daughter  is  in  the  ante-room." 

"Bring  her  here." 

There  was  a  painful  hush  in  the  chamber  during 
the  waiting.  When  the  daughter  appeared,  all  eyes 
were  directed  to  her — all  but  the  father's,  and  even 
he  was  instantly  aware  of  her  presence ;  for  which, 
doubtless,  the  sensibility  known  only  to  the  long-tune 
blind  was  sufficiently  alive. 

"Where  hast  thou  been  ? "  he  asked,  with  a  show 
of  petulance. 

"  Calm  thee,  father,  I  am  here." 

She  took  his  hand  to  assure  him,  and  then  returned 
the  look  of  the  Emperor ;  only  his  was  of  open  aston- 
ishment, while  hers  was  self-possessed. 

Two  points  were  afterwards  remembered  against 
her  by  the  courtiers  present ;  first,  contrary  to  the 
custom  of  Byzantine  women,  she  wore  no  veil  or 
other  covering  for  the  face;  in  the  next  place,  she 
tendered  no  salutation  to  the  Emperor.  Far  from 
prostrating  herself,  as  immemorial  etiquette  required, 
she  did  not  so  much  as  kneel  or  bow  her  head.  They, 
however,  excused  her,  saying  truly  her  days  had  been 
passed  in  the  Monastery  without  opportunity  to  acquire 
courtly  manners.  In  fact  they  did  not  at  the  time 
notice  the  omissions.  She  was  so  beautiful,  and  her 
beauty  reposed  so  naturally  in  an  air  of  grace,  mod- 
esty, intelligence,  and  purity  that  they  saw  nothing 
else. 


144 

Constantine  recovered  himself,  and  rising  from  his 
seat,  advanced  to  the  edge  of  the  dais,  which  in  such 
audiences,  almost  wholly  without  state,  raised  him 
slightly  above  his  guests  and  attendants,  and  spoke 
to  the  father : 

"I  know  thy  history,  most  noble  Greek — noble 
in  blood,  noble  in  loyalty,  noble  by  virtue  of  what 
thou  hast  done  for  the  Empire — and  I  honor  thee.  I 
grieve  for  the  suffering  thou  hast  endured,  and  wish 
myself  surrounded  with  many  more  spirits  like  thine, 
for  then,  from  my  exalted  place,  I  could  view  the 
future  and  its  portents  Avith  greater  calmness  of  ex- 
pectation, if  not  with  more  of  hope.  Perhaps  thou 
hast  heard  how  sadly  my  inheritance  has  been  weak- 
ened by  enemies  without  and  within;  how,  like 
limbs  lopped  from  a  stately  tree,  the  themes  *  rich- 
est in  their  yield  of  revenue  have  been  wrested  from 
the  body  of  our  State,  until  scarce  more  than  the 
capital  remains.  I  make  the  allusion  in  apology 
and  excuse  for  the  meagreness  of  what  I  have  to 
bestow  for  thy  many  heroic  services.  Wert  thou  in 
the  prime  of  manhood,  I  would  bring  thee  into  the 
palace.  That  being  impossible,  I  must  confine  my- 
self to  amends  within  my  power.  First,  take  thou 
liberty." 

The  sailor  sunk  to  his  knees ;  then  he  fell  upon  his 
hands,  and  touched  the  floor  with  his  forehead.  In 
that  posture,  he  waited  the  further  speech.  Such  was 
the  prostration  practised  by  the  Greeks  in  formally 
saluting  their  Basileus. 

Constantine  proceeded. 

"Take  next  the  house  here  in  the  city  which  was 
thine  when  the  judgment  fell  upon  thee.  It  has  been 
tenantless  since,  and  may  be  in  need  of  repairs ;  if  so, 

*  Provinces. 


145 

report  the  cost  they  put  thee  to,  and  I  will  charge  the 
amount  to  my  civil  list. " 

Looking  then  at  the  daughter,  he  added : 

"  On  our  Boumelian  shore,  up  by  Therapia,  there 
is  a  summer  house  which  once  belonged  to  a  learned 
Greek  who  was  the  happy  possessor  of  a  Homer  writ- 
ten masterfully  on  stainless  parchment.  He  had  a 
saying  that  the  book  should  be  opened  only  in  a  palace 
specially  built  for  it ;  and,  being  rich,  he  indulged  the 
fancy.  He  brought  the  marble  from  the  Pentelic 
quarries;  nothing  grosser  was  permitted  in  the  con- 
struction. In  the  shade  of  a  portico  of  many  columns 
of  Corinthian  model  he  passed  his  days  reading  to 
chosen  friends,  and  living  as  the  Athenians  were  wont 
to  live  in  the  days  of  Pericles.  In  my  youth  I  dwelt 
much  with  him,  and  he  so  loved  me  that  at  dying  he 
gave  me  the  house,  and  the  gardens  and  groves  around 
it.  They  will  help  me  now  to  make  partial  amends 
for  injustice  done ;  and  when  will  a  claimant  appear 
with  better  right  than  the  daughter  of  this  brave 
man  ?  In  speaking  but  now,  did  he  not  call  thee 
Irene  ? " 

A  flush  overspread  her  neck  and  face,  but  she  an- 
swered without  other  sign  of  feeling : 

"Irene." 

"The  house — it  may  be  called  a  palace — and  all 
that  pertains  to  it,  are  thine,"  he  continued.  "Go 
thither  at  will,  and  begin  thy  life  anew." 

She  took  one  step  forward,  but  stopped  as  suddenly, 
her  color  coming  and  going.  Never  had  Constantine 
seen  wife  or  maid  more  beautiful.  He  almost  dreaded 
lest  the  spell  she  cast  over  him  would  be  broken  by 
the  speech  trembling  upon  her  lips.  She  moved 
quickly  to  the  dais  then,  and  taking  his  hand,  kissed 
it  fervently,  saying : 
10 


146 

"  Almost  I  believe  we  have  a  Christian  Emperor." 

She  paused,  retaining  the  hand,  and  looking  up  into 
his  face. 

The  spectators,  mostly  dignitaries  of  high  degree, 
with  their  attendants,  were  surprised.  Some  of  them 
were  shocked ;  for  it  should  be  remembered  the  court 
was  the  most  rigidly  ceremonial  in  the  world.  The 
rules  governing  it  were  the  excerpt  of  an  idea  that  the 
Basileus  or  Emperor  was  the  incarnation  of  power  and 
majesty.  When  spoken  to  by  him,  the  proudest  of 
his  officials  dropped  their  eyes  to  his  embroidered 
slippers ;  when  required  to  speak  to  him,  they  fell  to 
their  knees,  and  kept  the  posture  till  he  was  pleased  to 
bid  them  rise.  Not  one  of  them  had  ever  touched  his 
fingers,  except  when  he  deigned  to  hold  them  out  to 
be  most  humbly  saluted.  Their  manner  at  such  times 
was  more  than  servility;  in  appearance,  at  least,  it 
was  worship.  This  explanation  will  enable  the  reader 
to  understand  the  feeling  with  which  they  beheld  the 
young  woman  keep  the  royal  hand  a  prisoner  in  hers. 
Some  of  them  shuddered,  and  turned  their  faces  not  to 
witness  a  familiarity  so  closely  resembling  profana- 
tion. 

Constantine,  on  his  part,  looked  down  into  the  eyes 
of  his  fair  kinswoman,  knowing  her  speech  was  not 
finished.  The  slight  inclination  of  his  person  toward 
her  was  intended  for  encouragement.  Indeed,  he 
made  no  attempt  to  conceal  the  interest  possessing 
him. 

' '  The  Empire  may  be  shorn,  even  as  thou  hast  said, " 
she  resumed  presently,  in  a  voice  slightly  raised. 
"  But  is  not  this  city  of  our  fathers  by  site  and  many 
advantages  as  much  the  capital  of  the  world  as  ever  ? 
A  Christian  Emperor  founded  it,  and  his  name  was 
Constantine;  may  it  not  be  its  perfect  restoration  is 


147 

reserved  for  another  Constantine,  also  a  Christian 
Emperor  ?  Search  thy  heart,  O  my  Lord !  I  have 
heard  how  noble  impulses  are  often  prophets  without 
voices." 

Constantine  was  impressed.  From  a  young  person, 
bred  in  what  were  really  prison  walls,  the  speech  was 
amazing.  He  was  pleased  with  the  opinion  she  was 
evidently  forming  of  himself ;  he  was  pleased  with  the 
hope  she  admitted  touching  the  Empire;  he  was 
pleased  with  the  Christian  faith,  the  strength  of  mind, 
the  character  manifested.  Her  loyalty  to  the  old 
Greek  regime  was  unquestionable.  The  courtiers 
thought  she  might  at  least  have  made  some  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  princely  kindness ;  but  if  he  thought 
of  the  want  of  form,  he  passed  it;  enough  for  him 
that  she  was  a  lovely  enthusiast.  In  the  uncertainty 
of  the  moment,  he  hesitated;  then,  descending  from 
the  dais,  he  kissed  her  hand  gracefully,  courteously, 
reverently,  and  said  simply : 

"May  thy  hope  be  God's  will." 

Turning  from  her,  he  helped  the  blind  man  to  his 
feet,  and  declared  the  audience  dismissed. 

Alone  with  his  secretary,  the  Grand  Logothete,  he 
sat  awhile  musing. 

"  Give  ear,"  he  at  length  said.  "  Write  it,  a  decree. 
Fifty  thousand  gold  pieces  annually  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  Manuel  and  Irene,  his  daughter." 

The  secretary  at  the  first  word  became  absorbed  ha 
studying  his  master's  purple  slippers ;  then,  having  a 
reply,  he  knelt. 

"Speak,"  said  Constantine. 

"Your  Majesty,"  the  secretary  responded,  "there 
are  not  one  thousand  pieces  in  the  treasury  unappro- 
priated." 

"  Are  we  indeed  so  poor  ? " 


148 

The  Emperor  sighed,  but  plucking  spirit,  went  on 
bravely : 

"  It  may  be  God  has  reserved  for  me  the  restoration, 
not  only  of  this  city,  but  of  the  Empire.  I  shall  try 
to  deserve  the  glory.  And  it  may  be  that  noble 
impulses  are  speechless  prophets.  Let  the  decree 
stand.  Heaven  willing,  we  will  find  a  way  to  make 
it  good." 


CHAPTER  HI 

THE   HOMERIC    PALACE 

THE  reader  is  now  informed  of  the  history  of  Ireni, 
which  is  to  be  remembered  as  of  an  important  person- 
age in  the  succeeding  pages.  Knowing  also  how  she 
became  possessed  of  the  palace  we  have  been  at  some 
pains  to  describe,  he  is  prepared  to  see  her  at  home. 

The  night  has  retreated  from  the  European  shore 
of  the  Bosphorus,  although  the  morning  is  yet  very 
young.  The  sun  in  the  cloudless  sky  beyond  Becos, 
where  it  appears  standing  as  if  to  rest  from  the  fatigue 
of  climbing  the  hills,  is  lifting  Therapia  bodily  out  of 
its  sparkling  waters.  In  the  bay  moreover  there  are 
many  calls  of  mariner  to  mariner,  and  much  creak- 
ing of  windlasses,  and  clashing  of  oars  cast  loose  in 
then*  leather  slings.  To  make  the  scene  perfectly 
realistic  there  is  a  smell  of  breakfast  cooking,  not 
unpleasant  to  those  within  its  waftage  who  are  yet 
to  have  their  appetites  appeased.  These  sights,  these 
sounds,  these  smells,  none  of  them  reach  the  palace 
in  the  garden  under  the  promontory  opposite  the 
town.  There  the  birds  are  singing  their  matin  songs, 
the  flowers  loading  the  air  with  perfume,  and  vine 
and  tree  drinking  the  moisture  borne  down  to  them 
from  the  unresting  sea  so  near  in  the  north.* 

Under  the  marble  portico  the  mistress  is  sitting  ex- 
actly in  the  place  we  can  imagine  the  old  Greek  loved 

*  The  Black  Sea. 


150 

most  what  time  he  read  from  his  masterful  copy  of 
Homer.  Between  columns  she  saw  the  Bosphorean 
expanse  clear  to  the  wooded  Asiatic  shore.  Below 
was  a  portion  of  the  garden  through  which  the  walk 
ran,  with  a  graceful  curve,  to  the  red  kiosk  by  the 
front  gate.  Just  beyond  it  the  landing  lay.  Around 
her  were  palm  and  rose  trees  in  painted  tubs,  and  in 
then*  midst,  springing  from  a  tall  vase  carven  over 
with  mythologic  figures,  a  jasmine  vine  affected  all 
the  graces  of  its  most  delicate  nature.  Within  reach 
of  her  right  hand  there  were  platters  of  burnished 
brass  on  a  table  of  ebony,  its  thin,  spider  legs  inlaid 
with  silver  in  lines.  One  of  the  platters  bore  a  heap 
of  white  biscuits  such  as  at  this  day  are  called  crackers ; 
the  others  supported  pitchers,  and  some  drinking  cups, 
all  of  silver. 

The  mistress  sat  in  an  arm-chair  very  smooth  in 
finish  despite  the  lineations  sunk  into  its  surfaces,  and 
so  roomy  as  to  permit  her  to  drop  easily  into  a  half -re- 
clining posture.  A  footstool  dressed  in  dark  stamped 
leather  was  ready  to  lend  its  aid  to  gracefulness  and 
comfort. 

We  will  presume  now  to  introduce  the  reader  to  the 
Princess  Irene,  though,  as  the  introduction  must  be 
in  the  way  of  description,  our  inability  to  render  the 
subject  adequately  is  admitted  in  advance. 

At  the  moment  of  first  sight,  she  is  sitting  erect,  her 
head  turned  slightly  to  the  left  shoulder,  and  both 
hands  resting  on  the  dog's  head  garnishing  the  right 
arm  of  the  chair.  She  is  gazing  abstractedly  out  at 
the  landing,  as  if  waiting  for  some  one  overdue.  The 
face  is  uncovered ;  and  it  is  to  be  said  here  that,  ab- 
horring the  custom  which  bound  her  Byzantine  sister- 
hood to  veils,  except  when  in  the  retiracy  of  their 
chambers,  she  was  at  all  times  brave  enough  to  em- 


151 

phasize  the  abhorrence  by  discarding  the  encumbrance. 
She  was  never  afraid  of  the  effects  of  the  sun  on  he* 
complexion,  and  had  the  art  of  moving  modestly  and 
with  composure  among  men,  who,  on  their  side,  were 
used  in  meeting  her  to  conceal  their  admiration  and 
wonder  under  cover  of  grave  respect. 

Her  figure,  tall,  slender,  perfectly  rounded,  is  clad 
in  drapery  of  the  purest  classic  mode.  Outwardly  it 
consists  of  but  two  garments — a  robe  of  fine  white 
woollen  stuff,  and  over  it  a  mantle  of  the  same  texture 
and  hue,  hanging  from  a  yoke  of  close-fitting  flesh- 
colored  silk  richly  embroidered  with  Tyrian  floss.  A 
red  rope  loosely  twisted  girdles  her  body  close  under 
the  breasts,  from  which,  when  she  is  standing,  the 
gown  in  front  falls  to  the  feet,  leaving  a  decided  train. 
The  mantle  begins  at  a  point  just  in  front  of  the  arm, 
under  which,  and  along  the  sides,  it  hangs,  like  a  long 
open  sleeve,  being  cut  away  behind  about  half  down 
the  figure.  The  contrivance  of  the  yoke  enabled 
the  artist,  by  gathering  the  drapery,  to  determine  the 
lines  in  which  it  should  drop,  and  they  were  few  but 
positive.  In  movement,  the  train  was  to  draw  the 
gown  to  the  form  so  its  outlines  could  be  easily  fol- 
lowed from  the  girdle. 

The  hair,  of  the  tint  of  old  gold,  is  dressed  in  the 
Grecian  style;  and  its  abundance  making  the  knot 
unusually  ample,  there  was  necessity  for  the  two  fil- 
lets of  pink  silk  to  keep  it  securely  in  place. 

The  real  difficulty  in  the  description  is  now  reached. 
To  a  reader  of  sharp  imagination  it  might  be  sufficient 
to  say  the  face  of  the  Princess  Irene,  seen  the  morning 
in  question,  was  perfectly  regular,  the  brows  like  pen- 
cilling, the  nose  delicate,  the  eyes  of  violet  shading 
into  blackness,  the  mouth  small  with  deep  corners  and 
lips  threads  of  scarlet,  the  cheeks  and  brow  precisely 


152 

as  the  received  law  of  beauty  would  have  them.  This 
would  authorize  a  conception  of  surpassing  loveliness ; 
and  perhaps  it  were  better  did  we  stop  with  the  sug- 
gestions given,  since  the  fancy  would  then  be  left  to 
do  its  own  painting.  But  patience  is  besought,  for 
vastly  more  than  a  face  of  unrivalled  perfection,  the 
conjuration  is  a  woman  who  yet  lives  in  history  as 
such  a  combination  of  intellect,  spirit,  character,  and 
personal  charm  that  men,  themselves  rulers  and  con- 
querors, fell  before  her  at  sight.  Under  necessity 
therefore  of  going  on  with  the  description,  what  words 
are  at  command  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  complexion 
— a  property  so  wholly  unartificial  with  her  that  the 
veins  at  the  temples  were  as  transparent  shadows  on 
snow,  and  the  coloring  of  the  cheeks  like  a  wash  of 
roses  ?  What  more  is  there  than  to  point  to  the  eyes 
of  the  healthful  freshness  peculiar  to  children  of  ten- 
der nurture ;  the  teeth  exquisitely  regular  and  of  the 
whiteness  of  milk  and  the  lustre  of  pearls;  the  ears 
small,  critically  set,  and  tinted  pink  and  white,  like 
certain  shells  washed  ashore  last  night  ?  What  more  ? 
Ah,  yes !  There  are  the  arms  bare  from  the  shoulder, 
long  and  round  as  a  woman's  should  be,  and  terminat- 
ing in  flexile  wrists,  and  hands  so  gracefully  modelled 
we  shrink  from  thought  of  then'  doing  more  than 
making  wreaths  of  flowers  and  playing  with  harp 
strings.  There  too  is  the  pose  of  the  head  expressive 
of  breeding  and  delicacy  of  thought  and  feeling,  of 
pride  and  courage — the  pose  unattainable  by  effort  or 
affectation,  and  impossible  except  where  the  head,  it- 
self faultless,  is  complemented  by  a  neck  long,  slen- 
der, yet  round,  pliant,  always  graceful,  and  set  upon 
shoulders  the  despair  of  every  one  but  the  master  who 
found  perfection  of  form  and  finish  in  t;he  lilies  of  the 
Madonna.  Finally  there  is  the  correspondence,  in 


153 

action  as  well  as  repose,  of  body,  limbs,  head,  and 
face,  to  which,  under  inspiration  of  the  soul,  the  air 
and  manner  of  lovely  women  are  always  referable. 

The  Princess  was  yet  intensely  observing  the  stretch 
of  water  before  her,  and  the  rapid  changes  of  the  light 
upon  its  face,  when  a  boat,  driven  by  a  single  oars- 
man, drew  up  to  the  landing,  and  disembarked  a  pas- 
senger. That  he  was  not  the  person  she  was  expecting 
became  instantly  apparent.  She  glanced  at  him  once, 
and  then,  satisfied  he  was  a  stranger  in  whom  she  had 
no  interest,  resumed  study  of  the  bay.  He,  however, 
after  dropping  something  in  the  boatman's  hand, 
turned,  and  walked  to  the  gateway,  and  through  it 
towards  the  palace. 

Ere  long  a  servant,  whose  very  venerable  appear- 
ance belied  the  steel-pointed  javelin  he  carried,  hob- 
bled slowly  along  the  floor  of  the  portico  marshalling 
a  visitor.  She  touched  the  golden  knot  at  the  back  of 
her  head  to  be  assured  of  its  arrangement,  arose,  shook 
out  the  folds  of  her  gown  and  mantle,  and  was  pre- 
pared for  the  interruption. 

The  costume  of  the  stranger  was  new  to  the  Prin- 
cess. A  cassock  of  mixed  white  and  brown  wool  that 
had  gone  through  a  primitive  loom  with  little  of  any 
curative  process  except  washing,  hung  from  his  neck 
to  his  heels.  Aside  from  the  coarseness  of  warp  and 
woof,  it  fitted  so  closely  that  but  for  a  slit  on  each  side 
of  the  skirt  walking  would  have  been  seriously  im- 
peded. The  sleeves  were  long  and  loose,  and  covered 
the  hands.  From  the  girdle  of  untanned  skin  a 
double  string  of  black  horn  beads,  each  large  as  a  wal- 
nut, dropped  to  his  knees.  The  buckle  of  the  girdle, 
which  might  have  been  silver  deeply  oxidized,  was 
conspicuously  large,  and  of  the  rudest  workmanship. 
But  withal  much  the  most  curious  part  of  the  garb 


154 

was  the  cowl,  if  such  it  may  be  called.  Projecting 
over  the  face  so  far  as  to  cast  the  features  in  shadow, 
it  carried  on  the  sides  of  the  head  broad  flaps,  not 
unlike  the  ears  of  an  elephant.  This  envelope  was 
hideous,  yet  it  served  to  exalt  the  man  within  to 
giantesque  proportions. 

The  Princess  surveyed  the  visitor  with  astonishment 
hardly  concealed.  What  part  of  the  world  could  pro- 
duce a  creature  so  utterly  barbarous  ?  What  business 
could  he  have  with  her  ?  Was  he  young  or  old  ? 
Twice  she  scanned  him  from  head  to  foot.  He  was  a 
monk ;  so  much  the  costume  certified ;  and  while  he 
stopped  before  her  with  one  foot  advanced  from  the 
edge  of  the  skirt,  and  resting  lightly  in  the  clasp  of 
the  thongs  of  a  very  old-fashioned  sandal,  she  saw  it 
was  white,  and  blue  veined,  and  at  the  edges  pink, 
like  a  child's,  and  she  said  to  herself,  "  He  is  young 
— a  young  monastic. " 

The  stranger  drew  from  his  girdle  a  linen  package 
carefully  folded,  kissed  it  reverently,  and  said : 

"  Would  the  Princess  Irene  be  pleased  if  I  open  the 
favor  for  her  ? " 

The  voice  was  manly,  the  manner  deferential. 

"  Is  it  a  letter  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  A  letter  from  the  Holy  Father,  the  Archimandrite 
of  the  greatest  of  the  northern  Lavras."  * 

"  Its  name  ? " 

"Bielo-Osero." 

"  The  Bielo-Osero  ?    Where  is  it  ? " 

"  In  the  country  of  the  Great  Prince."  t 

"  I  knew  not  that  I  had  an  acquaintance  in  so  dis- 
tant a  region  as  the  north  of  Russia.  You  may  open 
the  letter. " 

Unmindful  of  the  indifferent  air  of  the  Princess, 

*  Monasteries.  t  Russia. 


155 

the  monk  removed  the  cloth,  leaving  its  folds  hang- 
ing loosely  from  his  hand.  A  sheet  of  vellum  was 
exposed  lying  on  the  covered  palm. 

"The  Holy  Father  bade  me  when  I  delivered  the 
writing,  O  Princess,  to  deliver  his  blessing  also ;  which 
— the  saying  is  mine,  not  his — is  of  more  worth  to 
the  soul  than  a  coffer  of  gold  for  the  wants  of  the 
body." 

The  pious  comment  was  not  lost ;  but  without  a 
word,  she  took  the  vellum,  and  resuming  her  seat, 
addressed  herself  to  the  reading.  First,  her  eyes 
dropped  to  the  signature.  There  was  a  look  of  sur- 
prise— another  of  uncertainty — then  an  exclamation : 

' '  Hilarion !  Not  my  Father  Hilarion !  He  is  but  a 
sacred  memory!  He  went  away  and  died — and  yet 
this  is  his  hand.  I  know  it  as  I  know  my  own." 

The  monk  essayed  to  remove  the  doubt. 

"Permit  me,"  he  said,  then  asked,  "Is  there  not 
an  island  hereabouts  called  Prinkipo  ?  " 

She  gave  him  instant  attention. 

"  And  on  the  side  of  the  island  over  against  the 
Asiatic  coast,  under  a  hill  named  Kamares,  is  there 
not  a  convent  built  centuries  ago  by  an  Empress  ?  " 

"  Irene,"  she  interposed. 

"  Yes,  Irene — and  was  not  Father  Hilarion  for  many 
years  Abbot  of  the  convent  ?  Then,  on  account  of 
his  fame  for  learning  and  piety,  did  not  the  Patriarch 
exalt  him  to  attendance  on  his  own  person  as  Doctor 
of  the  Gospels  ?  Still  later,  was  he  not  summoned  to 
serve  the  Emperor  in  the  capacity  of  Warden  of  the 
Purple  Ink  ? " 

"  From  whom  have  you  all  these  things  ? "  she 
asked. 

"Excellent  Princess,  from  whom  could  I  have 
them  save  the  good  Father  himself  ? " 


156 

"  Thou  art  then  his  messenger  ?  " 

"  It  becomes  me  better  to  refer  you  to  what  he  has 
there  written. " 

So  saying,  the  monk  stepped  backward,  and  stood  a 
little  way  off  in  a  respectful  attitude.  She  raised  the 
missive,  and  kissed  the  signature  several  times,  ex- 
claiming : 

"  Now  hath  God  taken  care  of  his  own !  " 

Then  she  said  to  the  monk,  "Thou  art  indeed  a 
messenger  with  good  tidings." 

And  he,  accepting  the  welcome,  uncovered  his  head, 
by  raising  the  hideous  Mobouk*  and  letting  it  fall 
back  pendant  from  his  shoulders.  The  violet  eyes  of 
the  Princess  opened  wider,  brightening  as  with  a  sud- 
den influx  of  light.  She  could  not  remember  a  finer 
head  or  a  face  more  perfect  in  manly  beauty,  and  at 
the  same  time  so  refined  and  gentle. 

And  he  was  so  young — young  even  as  herself — 
certainly  not  more  than  twenty.  Such  was  her  first 
general  impression  of  him.  For  the  pleasure  there 
was  in  the  surprise,  she  would  not  allow  it  to  be 
observed,  but  said  : 

"The  Father  in  his  letter,  no  doubt,  tells  me  thy 
name,  but  since  I  wish  to  reserve  the  reading,  I  hope 
thou  wilt  not  be  offended  if  I  ask  it  directly." 

"The  name  my  mother  gave  me  is  Andre;  but 
when  I  came  to  be  a  deacon  in  our  Bielo-Osero, 
Father  Hilarion,  who  presided  at  the  raising,  asked 
me  how  I  wished  to  be  known  in  the  priesthood,  and 
I  answered  him,  Sergius.  Andre  was  a  good  christ- 
ening, and  serves  well  to  remind  me  of  my  dear 
mother;  but  Sergius  is  better,  because  at  hearing  it 
I  am  always  reminded  that  by  vows  and  solemn  rites 
of  ordination  I  am  a  servant  of  God." 

*  Cowl. 


157 

"  I  will  endeavor  to  remember  thy  preference,"  the 
Princess  said;  "but  just  now,  good  Sergius,  it  is  of 
next  importance  to  know  if  thou  hast  yet  had  break- 
fast ? " 

A  smile  helped  his  face  to  even  more  of  pleasantness. 

"No,"  he  answered,  " but  I  am  used  to  fasting,  and 
the  great  city  is  not  more  than  two  hours  away." 

She  looked  concerned. 

"  Thy  patron  Saint  hath  not  deserted  thee.  Here  is 
a  table  already  set.  He  for  whom  I  held  it  is  long  on 
the  road;  thou  shalt  take  his  place,  and  be  not  less 
welcome."  To  the  old  servant  she  added:  "We  have 
a  guest,  not  an  enemy,  Lysander.  Put  up  thy  jave- 
lin, and  bring  a  seat  for  him ;  then  stand  behind  him, 
lest  it  happen  one  service  of  the  cups  be  not  enough." 

Directly  the  two  were  at  the  table  opposite  each 
other. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   RUSSIAN  MONK 

SERQITJS  took  a  glass  of  red  wine  from  the  old  at- 
tendant, and  said : 

"I  should  like  your  permission,  O  Princess,  to  make 
a  confession." 

His  manner  was  that  of  one  unused  to  the  society 
of  women.  He  was  conscious  she  was  studying  him, 
and  spoke  to  divert  her.  As  she  was  slow  answering, 
he  added:  "That  you  may  not  think  me  disposed  to 
abuse  the  acquaintance  you  honor  me  with,  especially 
as  you  have  not  yet  read  the  letter  of  the  good  Father 
Hilarion  upon  which  I  rely  for  your  better  regard,  I 
ask  the  permission  rather  to  show  the  degree  of  your 
kindness  to  me.  It  may  interest  you  also  to  learn  of 
the  confirmation  of  a  certain  faith  you  are  perhaps 
unwittingly  lending  a  novice  in  the  ways  of  the 
world." 

She  had  been  studying  him,  and  her  first  impression 
was  now  confirmed.  His  head  in  shape  and  pose  was 
a  poet's;  the  long,  wavy,  flaxen  hair,  parted  in  the 
middle,  left  small  space  for  the  forehead,  which  was 
nevertheless  broad  and  white,  with  high-arched,  well- 
defined  brows  for  base.  The  eyes  were  gray.  In  re- 
pose they  had  a  dreamy  introspectional  expression. 
The  mustache  and  beard,  the  first  growth  of  youth 
spent  entirely  indoors,  were  as  yet  too  light  to  shade 
any  part  of  the  face.  The  nose  was  not  enough  re- 


159 

trouss£  to  be  irregular.  In  brief,  the  monk  was  of 
the  type  now  well  known  as  Russian.  Aside  from 
height  and  apparent  muscularity,  he  very  nearly 
realized  the  Byzantine  ideal  of  Christ  as  seen  in  the 
cartoons  excellently  preserved  in  a  mosque  of  Stam- 
boul  not  far  from  the  gate  anciently  San  Remain  now 
Top  Kapoussi. 

The  appearance  of  the  young  monk,  so  strikingly 
suggestive  of  the  being  most  sacred  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Princess,  was  at  the  moment  less  curious  to  her 
than  a  certain  habit  observable  in  him.  The  look  of 
brightness  attendant  upon  the  thought  he  was  putting 
into  form  would,  when  the  utterance  was  through, 
suffer  a  lapse  which,  for  want  of  strictly  definite 
words,  may  be  described  as  a  sombering  of  the  eyes 
when  they  were  widest  open,  a  gazing  beyond  at 
something  else  than  the  opposite  speaker;  implying 
that  the  soul  was  become  mysteriously  occupied  apart 
from  the  mind.  The  effect  was  as  if  she  had  before 
her  two  widely  different  characters  making  themselves 
present  at  the  same  time  in  one  person.  Unquestion- 
ably, though  rarely,  there  is  a  duality  of  nature  in  men, 
by  which,  to  put  it  extremely,  a  seeming  incapable 
may  be  vastly  capable,  outward  gentleness  a  mask  for 
a  spirit  of  Neronian  violence,  dulness  a  low-lying 
cloud  surcharged  with  genius.  What  shall  be  done 
with  such  a  nature  ?  When  may  it  be  relied  upon  ? 
Who  shall  ever  come  to  really  know  it  ? 

Occupied  with  the  idea,  the  Princess  heard  but  the 
conclusion  of  the  monk's  somewhat  awkward  apology, 
and  she  answered : 

"The  confession  must  be  of  something  lighter  than 
a  sin.  I  will  listen." 

"A  sin!"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  blush.  "Pardon 
me,  O  Princess.  It  was  a  trifle  of  which  I  spoke  too 


160 

seriously.  I  promise  thou  shalt  take  from  it  nothing 
worse  than  a  laugh  at  my  simplicity.  See  thou  these 
things  ? " 

He  gave  her  a  glance  full  of  hoyish  humor,  and 
from  a  breast  pocket  of  his  cassock  drew  a  bag  of 
coarse  yellow  silk ;  thrusting  a  hand  into  its  mouth, 
he  then  brought  out  a  number  of  square  leathern 
chips  stamped  with  sunken  letters,  and  laid  them  on 
the  table  before  her. 

"  This  you  must  know  is  our  money." 
The  Princess  examined  the  pieces,  and  said : 
"  I  doubt  if  our  tradesmen  would  accept  them." 
' '  They  will  not.  I  am  a  witness  to  the  fact.  Never- 
theless they  will  carry  a  traveller,  go  he  either  way, 
from  one  end  of  our  Great  Prince's  realm  to  the  other. 
When  I  left  the  Lavra,  setting  out  on  my  journey, 
Father  Hilarion  gave  me  the  bag,  saying,  as  he  put  it 
into  my  hand,  '  Now  upon  coming  to  the  port  where 
the  ship  awaits  thee,  be  sure  to  exchange  the  money 
with  the  merchants  there  for  Byzantine  gold;  else, 
unless  God  come  to  thy  aid,  thou  wilt  be  turned  into 
a  mendicant.'  And  so  I  fully  meant  to  do;  but  when 
I  reached  the  port,  I  found  it  a  city  large,  and  full  of 
people  and  sights  wonderful  to  me,  demanding  to  be 
seen.  I  forgot  the  injunction.  Indeed  I  never  thought 
of  it  until  this  morning." 

Here  he  laughed  at  himself,  proving  he  was  not  yet 
seriously  alive  to  the  consequences  of  his  negligence. 
Presently  he  resumed : 

"  I  landed  only  last  night,  and  sick  from  the  tossing 
of  the  sea,  put  up  at  an  inn  in  the  town  yonder.  I 
ordered  breakfast,  and,  according  to  a  custom  of  my 
people,  offered  to  pay  before  tasting.  The  master  of 
the  house  looked  at  my  money,  and  told  me  to  show 
him  coin  of  gold ;  if  not  that,  then  copper  or  brass,  or 


161 

even  iron,  in  pieces  bearing  the  name  of  the  Emperor. 
Being  told  I  had  only  this,  he  hade  me  look  elsewhere 
for  breakfast.  Now  I  had  designed  going  to  the  great 
city  to  kiss  the  hand  of  the  Patriarch,  of  whom  I  have 
always  heard  as  the  wisest  of  men,  before  coming  to 
thee ;  but  the  strait  I  was  in  was  hard.  Could  I  expect 
better  of  the  innkeepers  there  ?  I  had  a  button  of  gold 
— a  memorial  of  my  entry  into  the  Lavra.  That  day 
father  Hilarion  blessed  it  three  times;  and  it  bore  a 
cross  upon  its  face  which  I  thought  might  make  it 
acceptable  as  if  it  were  lettered  with  the  name  of  Con- 
stantine.  A  boatman  consented  to  take  it  for  rowing 
me  to  thy  landing.  Behold !  Thou  hast  my  confes- 
sion!" 

His  speech  to  this  time  had  been  in  Greek  singularly 
pure  and  fluent;  now  he  hesitated,  while  his  eyes, 
open  to  the  full,  sombered,  as  if  from  a  field  in  the 
brain  back  of  them  a  shadow  was  being  cast  through 
his  face.  When  next  he  spoke  it  was  in  his  native 
tongue. 

The  Princess  observed  her  guest  with  increasing 
interest;  for  she  was  wholly  unused  to  such  artless- 
ness  in  men.  How  could  Father  Hilarion  have 
intrusted  business  of  importance  to  an  envoy  so  neg- 
ligent ?  His  confession,  as  he  termed  it,  was  an  admis- 
sion, neither  more  nor  less,  that  he  had  no  money  of 
the  country  into  which  he  was  come.  And  further, 
how  could  the  habit  of  lapsing  in  thought,  or  more 
simply,  of  passing  abruptly  from  the  present  subject, 
be  explained  except  on  the  theory  of  something  to 
which  he  had  so  given  himself  it  had  become  over- 
mastering and  all  absorbent  ?  This,  she  saw  intui- 
tively, would  prove  the  key  to  the  man ;  and  she  set 
about  finding  it  out. 

"  Your  Greek,  good  Sercius  is  excellent;  yet  I  did 
11 


163 

not  understand  the  words  with  which  you  con- 
cluded." 

"  I  beg  pardon,"  he  replied,  with  a  change  of  coun- 
tenance. ' '  In  my  mother's  tongue  I  repeated  a  say- 
ing of  the  Psalmist,  which  you  shall  have  voice  and 
look  as  Father  Hilarion  has  given  it  to  me  oftener 
than  I  am  days  old."  Then  his  voice  lowered  into  a 
sweet  intensity  fitting  the  text:  "  "The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd;  I  shall  not  want.'  Those  were  the  words, 
Princess ;  and  who  shall  say  they  do  not  comprehend 
all  there  is  of  religion  ?  " 

The  answer  was  unexpected,  the  manner  affecting; 
never  had  she  heard  conviction  and  faith  more  per- 
fectly affirmed.  More  than  a  monk,  the  young  man 
might  be  a  preacher!  And  Father  Hilarion  might 
have  grown  wiser  of  his  years!  Perhaps  he  knew, 
though  at  a  vast  distance,  that  the  need  of  the  hour 
in  Constantinople  was  not  a  new  notable — a  bishop 
or  a  legate — so  much  as  a  voice  with  power  of  persua- 
sion to  still  the  contentions  with  which  her  seven  hills 
were  then  resounding.  The  idea,  though  a  surmise, 
was  strong  enough  to  excite  a  desire  to  read  the  holy 
man's  letter.  She  even  reproached  herself  for  not 
having  done  so. 

"  The  worthy  priest  gave  me  the  same  saying  in  the 
same  words,"  she  said,  rising,  "  and  they  lose  nothing 
of  their  meaning  by  thy  repetition.  We  may  speak 
of  them  hereafter.  For  the  present,  to  keep  thee  from 
breakfast  were  cruel.  I  will  go  and  make  terms  with 
my  conscience  by  reading  what  thou  hast  brought  me 
from  the  Father.  Help  thyself  freely  as  if  thou  wert 
the  most  favored  of  guests ;  or  rather  " — she  paused 
to  emphasize  the  meaning — "as  though  I  had  been 
bidden  to  prepare  for  thy  coming.  Should  there  be 
failure  in  anything  before  thee,  scruple  not  to  ask  for 


163 

more.    Lysander  will  be  at  thy  service.    I  may  return 
presently." 

The  monk  arose  respectfully,  and  stood  until  she 
disappeared  behind  the  vases  and  flowers,  leaving  in 
his  memory  a  fadeless  recollection  of  graciousness 
and  beauty,  which  did  not  prevent  him  from  immedi- 
ately addressing  himself  as  became  a  hungry  traveller. 


CHAPTER  V 

A   VOICE   FROM   THE    CLOISTER 

WHILE  the  Princess  Irene  traversed  the  portico,  she 
repeated  the  words,  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd ;  I  shall 
not  want ;  and  she  could  see  how  the  negligent,  mon- 
eyless monk,  turned  away  at  the  inn,  was  provided 
for  in  his  moment  of  need,  and  also  that  she  was  the 
chosen  purveyor  ;  if  so,  by  whom  chosen  ?  The 
young  man  had  intended  calling  on  the  Patriarch 
first;  who  brought  him  to  her  ?  The  breakfast  was 
set  for  an  invited  guest ;  what  held  him  back,  if  not 
the  power  that  led  the  stranger  to  her  gate  ? 

In  saying  now  that  one  of  the  consequences  of  the 
religious  passion  characteristic  of  the  day  in  the  East 
— particularly  in  Constantinople — a  passion  so  ex- 
treme as  to  induce  the  strongest  minds  to  believe  God, 
and  the  Son,  and  even  the  Holy  Mother  discernible  in 
the  most  commonplace  affairs — our  hope  is  to  save  the 
Princess  from  misjudgment.  Really  the  most  inde- 
pendent and  fearless  of  spirits,  if  now  and  then  she 
fell  into  the  habit  of  translating  the  natural  into  the 
supernatural,  she  is  entitled  to  mercy,  since  few 
things  are  harder  to  escape  than  those  of  universal 
practice. 

Through  a  doorway,  chiselled  top  and  jambs,  she 
entered  a  spacious  hall  nude  of  furniture,  though 
richly  frescoed,  and  thence  passed  into  a  plain  open 
court  coolly  shaded,  having  in  the  centre  a  jet  of 


165 

water  which  arose  and  fell  into  a  bowl  of  alabaster. 
The  water  overflowing  the  bowl  was  caught  again  in 
a  circular  basin  which,  besides  the  ornamental  carv- 
ing on  the  edge  and  outside,  furnished  an  ample  pool 
for  the  gold  fish  disporting  in  it. 

In  the  court  there  were  also  a  number  of  women, 
mostly  young  Greeks,  sewing,  knitting,  and  embroid- 
ering vestments.  Upon  her  entrance  they  arose,  let 
their  work  drop  on  the  spotless  white  marble  at  their 
feet,  and  received  her  in  respectful  silence.  Signing 
them  to  resume  their  labor,  she  took  a  reserved  chair 
by  the  fountain.  The  letter  was  in  her  hand,  but  a 
thought  had  the  precedence. 

Admitting  she  had  been  chosen  to  fulfil  the  saying 
quoted,  was  the  call  for  the  once  only  ?  When  the 
monk  went  up  to  the  city,  was  her  ministry  to  end  ? 
Would  not  that  be  a  half -performance  ?  How  much 
farther  should  she  go  ?  She  felt  a  little  pang  of 
trouble,  due  to  the  uncertainty  that  beset  her,  but 
quieted  it  by  an  appeal  to  the  letter.  Crossing  her- 
self, and  again  kissing  the  signature,  she  began  the 
reading,  which,  as  the  hand  was  familiar  to  her,  and 
the  composition  in  the  most  faultless  Greek  of  the 
period,  was  in  nowise  a  perplexity. 

"  BIELO-OSEKO,  20th  April,  1451. 

"  From  Hilarion,  the  Hegumen,  to  Irend,  his  well-beloved 
daughter. 

"Thou  hast  thought  of  me  this  longtime  as  at  rest  forever 
— at  rest  with  the  Redeemer.  While  there  is  nothing  so  the 
equivalent  of  death  as  silence,  there  is  no  happiness  so  sweet 
as  that  which  springs  upon  us  unexpectedly.  In  the  same  sense 
the  resurrection  was  the  perfect  complement  of  the  crucifix- 
ion. More  than  all  else,  more  than  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
more  than  His  miracles,  more  than  His  unexampled  life,  it  lifted 
our  Lord  above  the  repute  of  a  mere  philosopher  like  Socrates. 
We  have  tears  for  His  much  suffering  ;  but  we  sing  as  Miriam 


sang  when  we  think  of  His  victory  over  the  grave.  I  would  not 
compare  myself  to  Him ;  yet  it  pleases  me  believing  these  lines, 
BO  unexpected,  will  give  thee  a  taste  of  the  feeling  the  Marys 
had,  when,  with  their  spices  in  hand,  they  sought  the  sepulchre 
and  found  only  the  Angels  there. 

"  Let  me  tell  thee  first  of  my  disappearance  from  Constanti- 
nople. I  repented  greatly  my  taking  from  the  old  convent  by 
the  Patriarch ;  partly  because  it  separated  me  from  thee  at  a 
time  when  thy  mind  was  opening  to  receive  the  truth  and 
understand  it.  Tet  the  call  had  a  sound  as  if  from  God.  I 
feared  to  disobey  it. 

"  Then  came  the  summons  of  the  Emperor.  He  had  heard 
of  my  life,  and,  as  a  counteraction  of  vice,  he  wanted  its  ex- 
ample in  the  palace.  I  held  back.  But  the  Patriarch  prevailed 
on  me,  and  I  went  up  and  suffered  myself  to  be  installed  Keeper 
of  the  Purple  Ink.  Then  indeed  I  became  miserable.  To  such 
as  I,  what  is  sitting  near  the  throne  ?  What  is  power  when  not 
an  instrument  of  mercy,  justice  and  charity  ?  What  is  easy 
life,  except  walking  in  danger  of  habits  enervating  to  the  hope 
of  salvation  ?  Oh,  the  miseries  I  witnessed  !  And  how  wretched 
the  sight  of  them,  knowing  they  were  beyond  my  help  !  I  saw 
moreover  the  wickedness  of  the  court.  Did  I  speak,  who  listened 
except  to  revile  me  ?  Went  I  to  celebrations  in  this  or  that 
church,  I  beheld  only  hypocrisy  in  scarlet.  How  often,  know- 
ing the  sin-stains  upon  the  hands  of  the  celebrants  at  the  altar 
in  Sta.  Sophia,  the  house  in  holiness  next  to  the  temple  of  Solo- 
mon— how  often,  seeing  those  hands  raise  the  blood  of  Christ 
in  the  cup  before  the  altar,  have  I  trembled,  and  looked  for  the 
dome  above  to  let  consuming  vengeance  in  upon  us,  the  innocent 
with  the  guilty  1 

"  At  last  fear  filled  all  my  thoughts,  and  forbade  sleep  or  any 
comfort.  I  felt  I  must  go,  and  quickly,  or  be  lost  for  denial  of 
covenants  made  with  Him,  the  ultimate  Judge,  in  whose  ap- 
proval there  is  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding.  I  was 
like  one  pursued  by  a  spirit-  making  its  presence  known  to  me 
in  sobs  and  plaints,  stinging  as  conscience  stings. 

"  Consent  to  my  departure  was  not  to  be  expected ;  for  great 
men  dislike  to  have  their  favors  slighted.  It  was  not  less  clear 
that  formal  resignation  of  the  official  honor  I  was  supposed  to 
be  enjoying  would  be  serviceable  to  the  courtiers  who  were  not 
so  much  my  enemies  personally  as  they  were  enemies  of  religion 


1C7 

and  contemners  of  all  holy  observances.  And  there  were  M 
many  of  them  !  Alas,  for  the  admission  !  What  then  was  left 
but  flight  ? 

"Whither?  I  thought  first  of  Jerusalem;  but  who  with- 
out abasement  can  inhabit  with  infidels  ?  Then  Hagion  Oras, 
the  Holy  Hill,  occurred  to  me  ;  the  same  argument  applied 
against  it  as  against  return  to  the  convent  of  Irene1 — I  would  be 
in  reach  of  the  Emperor's  displeasure.  One  can  study  his  own 
heart.  Holding  mine  off,  and  looking  at  it  alive  with  desires 
holy  and  unholy,  I  detected  in  it  a  yearning  for  hermitage. 
How  beautiful  solitude  appears  !  In  what  condition  can  one 
wishing  to  change  his  nature  for  the  better  more  certainly  attain 
the  end  than  without  companionship  except  of  God  always 
present  ?  The  spirit  of  prayer  is  a  delicate  minister ;  where 
can  we  find  purer  nourishment  for  it  than  in  the  silence  which 
at  noon  is  deep  as  at  midnight  ? 

"  In  this  mood  the  story  of  the  Russian  St.  Sergius  reverted 
to  me.  He  was  born  at  Rostoff.  Filled  with  pious  impulses 
more  than  dissatisfied  with  the  world,  of  which  he  knew  noth- 
ing, with  a  brother,  he  left  his  father's  house  when  yet  a  youth 
and  betook  himself  to  a  great  woods  in  the  region  Radenego ; 
there  he  dwelt  among  savage  beasts  and  wild  men,  fasting  and 
praying  and  dependent  like  Elijah  of  old.  His  life  became  a 
notoriety.  Others  drew  to  him.  With  his  own  hands  he  built 
a  wooden  church  for  his  disciples,  giving  it  the  name  of  Troitza 
or  Thrice  Holy  Trinity.  Thither  I  wandered  in  thought.  A 
call  might  be  there  for  me,  so  weary  of  the  egotism,  envy,  de- 
traction, greed,  grind  and  battle  of  the  soulless  artificiality 
called  society. 

"  I  left  Blacherne  in  the  night,  and  crossing  the  sea  in  the 
north — no  wonder  it  is  so  terrible  to  the  poor  mariner  who  has 
to  hunt  his  daily  bread  upon  its  treacherous  waves — I  indulged 
no  wait  until,  in  the  stone  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  I  knelt 
before  the  remains  of  the  revered  Russian  hermit,  and  thanked 
God  for  deliverance  and  freedom. 

"  The  Troitza  was  no  longer  the  simple  wooden  church  of  its 
founder.  I  found  it  a  collection  of  monasteries.  The  solitude 
of  my  dreams  was  to  be  sought  northward  further.  Some  years 
before,  a  disciple  of  Sergius — Cyrill  by  name,  since  canonized 
— unterrified  by  winters  which  dragged  through  three  quarters 
•I  the  year,  wandered  off  to  a  secluded  place  on  the  shore  of 


168 

the  White  Lake,  where  be  dwelt  until,  in  old  age,  a  holy  house 
was  required  to  accommodate  his  following.  He  called  it  Bielo- 
Osero.  There  I  installed  myself,  won  by  the  warmth  of  my 
welcome. 

"  Now  when  I  departed  from  Blacherne,  I  took  with  me, 
besides  the  raiment  I  wore,  two  pieces  of  property ;  a  copy  of 
the  Rule  of  the  Studium  Monastery,  and  a  panagia  given  me  by 
the  Patriarch — a  medallion  portrait  of  the  Blessed  Mother  of 
our  Lord  the  Saviour,  framed  in  gold,  and  set  in  brilliants.  1 
carry  it  hanging  from  my  neck.  Even  in  sleep  it  is  always  lying 
just  above  my  heart.  The  day  is  not  far  now  when  my  need  of 
it  will  be  over ;  then  I  will  send  it  to  thee  in  notice  that  I  am 
indeed  at  rest,  and  that  in  dying  I  wished  to  lend  thee  a  pre- 
servative against  ills  of  the  soul  and  fear  of  death. 

"  The  Rule  was  acceptable  to  the  Brotherhood.  They 
adopted  it,  and  its  letter  and  spirit  prevailing,  the  house  came 
in  time  to  be  odorous  for  sanctity.  Eventually,  though  against 
my  will,  they  raised  me  their  Hegumen.  And  so  my  story 
reaches  its  end.  May  it  find  thee  enjoying  the  delight  of  the 
soul's  rest  I  have  been  enjoying  without  interruption  since  I 
began  life  anew  in  this  retreat,  where  the  days  are  days  of 
prayer,  and  the  nights  illuminated  by  visions  of  Paradise  and 
Heaven. 

"  In  the  next  place,  I  pray  thou  wilt  take  the  young  brother 
by  whom  this  will  be  delivered  into  friendly  care.  I  myself 
raised  him  to  adeaconship  of  our  Monastery.  His  priestly  name 
is  Sergius.  He  was  scarcely  out  of  boyhood  when  I  came  here ; 
it  was  not  long,  however,  before  I  discovered  in  him  the  quali- 
ties which  drew  me  to  thee  during  thy  prison  life  at  the  old 
convent  of  Irene1 — a  receptive  mind,  and  a  native  proneness  to 
love  God.  I  made  his  way  easy.  I  became  his  teacher,  as  I  had 
been  thine ;  and  as  the  years  flew  by  he  reminded  me  more  and 
more  of  thee,  not  merely  with  respect  to  mental  capacity,  but 
purity  of  soul  and  aspiration  as  well.  Need  I  say  how  natural  it 
was  for  me  to  love  him  ?  Had  I  not  just  come  from  loving  thee  ? 

"  The  brethren  are  good  men,  though  unmannerly,  and  for  the 
most  part  the  Word  reaches  them  from  some  other's  tongue. 
Filling  the  lad's  mind  was  like  filling  a  lamp  with  oil.  How 
precious  the  light  it  would  one  day  shed  abroad  !  And  how 
much  darkness  there  was  for  it  to  dispel !  And  in  the  darkness 
—Mercy,  Mercy  I  How  many  are  in  danger  of  perishing ! 


169 

"  Never  did  I  think  myself  so  clearly  a  servant  of  God  as  in 
the  time  Sergius  was  under  my  instruction.  Thou,  alas !  being 
a  woman,  wert  like  a  strong-winged  bird  doomed  at  best  to  a 
narrow  cage.  The  whole  world  was  before  him. 

"  Of  the  many  notes  I  have  been  compelled  to  take  of  the 
wants  of  religion  in  this  our  age,  none  so  amazes  me  as  the  lack 
of  preachers.  We  have  priests  and  monks.  Their  name  is 
Legion.  Who  of  them  can  be  said  to  have  been  touched  with 
the  fire  that  fell  upon  the  faithful  of  the  original  twelve  ? 
Where  among  them  is  an  Athauasius  ?  Or  a  Chrysostom  ?  Or 
an  Augustine  ?  Slowly,  yet  apace  with  his  growth,  I  became 
ambitious  for  the  young  man.  He  showed  quickness  and 
astonishing  courage.  No  task  appalled  him.  He  mastered 
the  tongues  of  the  nationalities  represented  around  him  as  if 
he  were  born  to  them.  He  took  in  memory  the  Gospels,  the 
Psalms,  and  the  prophetic  books  of  the  Bible.  He  replies  to 
me  in  Greek  undistinguishable  from  mine.  I  began  to  dream 
of  him  a  preacher  like  St.  Paul.  I  have  heard  him  talking  in 
the  stone  chapel,  when  the  sleet-ridden  winds  without  had 
filled  it  with  numbing  frost,  and  seen  the  Brotherhood  rise 
from  their  knees,  and  shout,  and  sing,  and  wrestle  like  mad- 
men. It  is  not  merely  words,  and  ideas,  and  oratorical  man- 
ner, but  all  of  them,  and  more — when  aroused,  he  has  the 
faculty  of  pouring  out  his  spirit,  so  that  what  he  says  takes 
hold  of  a  hearer,  making  him  calm  if  in  a  passion,  and  excited 
if  in  a  calm.  The  willing  listen  to  him  from  delight,  the  un- 
willing and  opposite  minded  because  he  enchains  them. 

"  The  pearl  seemed  to  me  of  great  price.  I  tried  to  keep  it 
free  of  the  dust  of  the  world.  With  such  skill  as  I  possess,  I 
have  worn  its  stains  and  roughnesses  away,  and  added  to  its 
lustre.  Now  it  goes  from  me. 

"  You  must  not  think  because  I  fled  to  this  corner  of  the 
earth,  there  is  any  abatement  of  my  affection  for  Constantino- 
ple ;  on  the  contrary,  absence  has  redoubled  the  love  for  it  with 
which  I  was  born.  Is  it  not  still  the  capital  of  our  holy  relig- 
ion ?  Occasionally  a  traveller  comes  this  way  with  news  of  the 
changes  it  has  endured.  Thus  one  came  and  reported  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  John,  and  the  succession  of  Constantino ;  an- 
other told  of  justice  finally  done  thy  heroic  father,  and  of  thy 
prosperity ;  more  lately  a  wandering  monk,  seeking  solitude  for 
his  soul's  sake,  joined  our  community,  and  from  him  I  hear 


170 

that  the  old  controversy  with  the  Latins  has  broken  out  anew, 
and  more  hotly  than  ever ;  that  the  new  Emperor  is  an  azymitt, 
and  disposed  to  adhere  to  the  compact  of  union  of  the  churches 
east  and  west  made  with  the  Pope  of  Rome  by  his  predecessor, 
leaving  heart-blisters  burning  as  those  which  divided  the  Jews. 
Indeed,  I  much  fear  the  likeness  may  prove  absolute.  It  cer- 
tainly will  when  the  Turk  appears  before  our  holy  city  as  Titus 
before  Jerusalem. 

"  This  latest  intelligence  induced  me  at  last  to  yield  to  Ser- 
gius'  entreaties  to  go  down  to  Constantinople,  and  finish  there 
the  courses  begun  here.  It  is  true  he  who  would  move  the 
world  must  go  into  the  world  ;  at  the  same  time  I  confess  my 
own  great  desire  to  be  kept  informed  of  the  progress  of  the  dis- 
cussion between  the  churches  had  much  to  do  with  my  consent 
to  his  departure.  He  has  instructions  to  that  effect,  and  will 
obey  them.  Therefore  I  pray  thee  receive  him  kindly  for  his 
own  sake,  for  mine,  and  the  promise  of  good  in  him  to  the  cause 
of  Jesus,  our  beloved  Master. 

"  In  conclusion,  allow  me,  daughter — for  such  thou  wert  to 
thy  father,  to  thy  mother,  and  to  me — allow  me  to  recur  to  cir- 
cumstances which,  after  calm  review,  I  pronounce  the  most  in- 
teresting, the  most  delightful,  the  most  cherished  of  my  life. 

"  The  house  under  the  Kamares  hill  at  Prinkipo  was  a  con- 
vent or  refuge  for  women  rather  than  men  ;  yet  I  was  ordered 
thither  when  thy  father  was  consigned  to  it  after  his  victory  over 
the  Turks.  I  was  then  comparatively  young,  but  still  recollect 
the  day  he  passed  the  gate  going  in  with  his  family.  Thence- 
forward, until  the  Patriarch  took  me  away,  I  was  his  confessor. 

"  Death  is  always  shocking.  I  remember  its  visits  to  the 
convent  while  I  was  of  its  people  ;  but  when  it  came  and  took 
thy  sisters  we  were  doubly  grieved.  As  if  the  ungrateful  Em- 
peror could  not  be  sufficiently  cruel,  it  seemed  Heaven  must 
needs  help  him.  The  cloud  of  those  sad  events  overhung  the 
community  a  long  time ;  at  length  there  was  a  burst  of  sunshine. 
One  came  to  my  cell  and  said,  '  Come,  rejoice  with  us — a  baby 
is  born  in  the  house.'  Thou  wert  the  baby ;  and  thy  appearance 
was  the  first  of  the  great  gladnesses  to  which  I  have  referred. 

"  And  not  less  distinctly  I  live  over  the  hour  we  met  in  the 
chapel  to  christen  thee.  The  Bishop  was  the  chief  celebrant ; 
but  not  even  the  splendor  of  his  canonicals — the  cope  with  the 
little  bells  sewn  down  the  sides  and  along  the  sleeves,  the  om- 


m 

pharium,  the  panagia,  the  cross,  the  crozier — were  enough  to 
draw  my  eyes  from  the  dimpled  pink  face  half-hidden  in  the 
pillow  of  down  on  which  they  held  thee  up  before  the  font. 
And  now  the  Bishop  dipped  his  fingers  in  the  holy  water — '  By 
what  name  is  this  daughter  to  be  known  ?  '  And  I  answered, 
'  Irene1.'  Thy  parents  had  been  casting  about  for  a  name.  '  Why 
not  call  her  after  the  convent  ? '  I  asked.  They  accepted  the 
suggestion  ;  and  when  I  gave  it  out  that  great  day— to  the  con- 
vent it  was  holiday — it  seemed  a  door  in  my  heart  of  which  I 
was  unknowing  opened  of  itself,  and  took  thee  into  a  love-lined 
chamber  to  be  sweet  lady  at  home  forever.  Such  was  the  second 
of  my  greatest  happinesses. 

"  And  then  afterwhile  thy  father  gave  thee  over  to  me  to  be 
educated.  I  made  thy  first  alphabet,  illuminating  each  letter 
with  my  own  hand.  Dost  thou  remember  the  earliest  sentence 
I  heard  thee  read  ?  Or,  if  ever  thou  dost  think  of  it  now,  be  re- 
minded it  was  thy  first  lesson  in  writing  and  thy  first  in  religion 
— 'The  Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not  want.'  And  thence 
what  delight  I  found  in  helping  thee  each  day  a  little  further 
on  in  knowledge  until  at  length  we  came  to  where  thou  couldst 
do  independent  thinking. 

"  It  was  in  Sta.  Sophia — in  my  memory  not  more  than  an  oc- 
currence of  yesterday.  Thou  and  I  had  gone  from  the  island 
up  to  the  holy  house,  where  we  were  spectators  of  a  service  at 
which  the  Emperor,  as  Basileus,  and  the  Patriarch  were  cele- 
brants. The  gold  on  cope  and  ompharium  cast  the  space  about 
the  altar  into  a  splendor  rich  as  sunshine.  Then  thou  asked 
me,  '  Did  Christ  and  His  Disciples  worship  in  a  house  like  this  ? 
And  were  they  dressed  as  these  are  ? '  I  was  afraid  of  those 
around  us,  and  told  thee  to  use  eye  and  ear,  but  the  time  for 
questions  and  answers  would  be  when  we  were  back  safely  in 
the  old  convent. 

"When  we  were  there,  thou  didst  renew  the  questions,  and 
I  did  not  withhold  the  truth.  I  told  thee  of  the  lowliness  and 
simple  ways  of  Jesus — how  He  was  clothed — how  the  out-doore 
was  temple  sufficient  for  Him.  I  told  thee  of  His  preaching  to 
the  multitude  on  the  shore  of  the  Galilean  sea — I  told  of  His 
praying  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane— I  told  of  the  attempt  to 
make  a  King  of  Him  whether  He  would  or  not,  and  how  He 
escaped  from  the  people — of  how  He  set  no  store  by  money  or 
property,  titles,  or  worldly  honors. 


173 

"  Then  thou  didst  ask,  '  Who  made  worship  so  formal  ?  * 
And  again  I  answered  truthfully,  there  was  no  Church  until 
after  the  death  of  our  Lord ;  that  in  course  of  two  hundred 
years  kings,  governors,  nobles  and  the  great  of  the  earth  were 
converted  to  the  faith,  and  took  it  under  their  protection  ;  that 
then,  to  conform  it  to  their  tastes  and  dignity,  they  borrowed 
altars  from  pagans,  and  recast  the  worship  so  sumptuously  in 
purple  and  gold  the  Apostles  would  not  have  recognized  it. 
Then,  in  brief,  I  began  telling  thee  of  the  Primitive  Church 
of  Christ,  now  disowned,  forgotten  or  lost  in  the  humanism  of 
religious  pride. 

"Oh,  the  satisfaction  and  happiness  in  that  teaching!  At 
each  lesson  it  seemed  I  was  taking  thee  closer  to  the  dear  Christ 
from  whom  the  world  is  every  year  making  new  roads  to  get 
further  away — the  dear  Christ  in  search  of  whom  I  plunged 
into  this  solitude. 

"  How  is  it  with  thee  now,  my  daughter  ?  Dost  thou  still 
adhere  to  the  Primitive  Church  ?  Do  not  fear  to  speak  thy  mind 
to  Sergius.  He  too  is  in  the  secret  of  our  faith,  believing  it 
best  to  love  our  Lord  from  what  our  Lord  hath  Himself  said. 

"  Now  I  bring  this  letter  to  a  close.  Let  me  have  reply  by 
Sergius,  who,  when  he  has  seen  Constantinople,  will  come  back 
to  me,  unless  He  who  holds  every  man's  future  in  keeping  dis- 
covers for  him  a  special  use. 

"  Do  not  forget  me  in  thy  prayers. 

"  Blessings  on  thee  1 

HlLABION." 

The  Princess  read  the  letter  a  second  time.  When 
she  came  to  the  passage  referring  to  the  Primitive 
Church,  her  hands  dropped  into  her  lap,  and  she 
thought: 

"The  Father  planted  right  well — better  than  he 
was  aware,  as  he  himself  would  say  did  he  know  my 
standing  now." 

A  glow  which  might  have  been  variously  taken  for 
half -serious,  half -mocking  defiance  shone  in  her  eyes 
as  the  thought  ran  on : 

"Ay,  dear  man!     Did  he  know  that  for  asserting 


173 

the  Primitive  Church  as  he  taught  it  to  me  in  the  old 
convent,  the  Greeks  and  the  Latins  have  alike  ad- 
judged me  a  heretic ;  that  nothing  saves  me  from  the 
lions  of  the  Cynegion,  except  my  being  a  woman — a 
woman  forever  off ending  by  going  when  and  where 
I  wist  with  my  face  bare,  and  therefore  harmless  ex- 
cept to  myself.  If  he  knew  this,  would  he  send  me 
his  blessing  ?  He  little  imagined — he  who  kept  his 
opinion  to  himself  because  he  could  see  no  good  possi- 
ble from  its  proclamation — that  I,  the  prison-bred  girl 
he  so  loved,  and  whom  he  helped  make  extreme  in 
courage  as  in  conviction,  would  one  day  forget  my 
sex  and  condition,  and  protest  with  the  vehemence  of 
a  man  against  the  religious  madness  into  which  the 
Christian  world  is  being  swept.  Oh,  that  I  were  a 
man!" 

Folding  the  letter  hastily,  she  arose  to  return  to 
her  guest.  There  was  fixedness  of  purpose  in  her 
face. 

"  Oh,  that  I  were  a  man !  "  she  repeated,  while  pass- 
ing the  frescoed  hall  on  the  way  out. 

In  the  portico,  with  the  white  light  of  the  marble 
whitening  her  whole  person,  and  just  as  the  monk, 
tall,  strong,  noble  looking,  despite  the  grotesqueness  of 
his  attire,  was  rising  from  the  table,  she  stopped,  and 
clasped  her  hands. 

"I  have  been  heard!"  she  thought,  trembling. 
"  That  which  it  refused  to  make  me,  Heaven  has  sent 
me.  Here  is  a  man!  And  he  is  certified  as  of  my 
faith,  and  has  the  voice,  the  learning,  the  zeal  and 
courage,  the  passion  of  truth  to  challenge  a  hearing 
anywhere.  Welcome  Sergius !  In  want  thou  earnest ; 
in  want  thou  didst  find  me.  The  Lord  is  shepherd 
unto  us  both." 

She  went  to  him  confidently,  and  offered  her  hand. 


174 

Her  manner  was  irresistible ;  he  had  no  choice  but  to 
yield  to  it. 

"  Thou  art  not  a  stranger,  but  Sergius,  my  brother. 
Father  Hilarion  has  explained  everything." 

He  kissed  her  hand,  and  replied : 

"  I  was  overbold,  Princess;  but  I  knew  the  Father 
would  report  me  kindly;  and  I  was  hungry." 

"  It  is  my  part  now  to  see  the  affliction  comes  not 
back  again.  So  much  has  the  Shepherd  already  de- 
termined. But,  speaking  as  thy  sister,  Sergius,  thy 
garments  appear  strange.  Doubtless  they  were  well 
enough  in  the  Bielo-Osero,  where  the  Rule  of  the 
Studium  is  law  instead  of  fashion ;  but  here  we  must 
consult  customs  or  be  laughed  at,  which  would  be 
fatal  to  the  role  I  have  in  mind  for  thee."  Then  with 
a  smile,  she  added,  "Observe  the  dominion  I  have 
already  assumed." 

He  answered  with  a  contented  laugh :  whereupon 
she  went  on,  but  more  gravely : 

"We  have  the  world  to  talk  over;  but  Lysander 
will  now  take  you  to  your  room,  and  you  will  rest 
until  about  mid-afternoon,  when  my  boat  will  come 
to  the  landing  to  carry  us  to  the  city.  The  cowl  you 
must  exchange  for  a  hat  and  veil,  the  sandals  for 
shoes,  the  coarse  cassock  for  a  black  gown;  and,  if 
we  have  tune,  I  will  go  with  you  to  the  Patriarch." 

Sergius  followed  Lysander  submissively  as  a  chi-  i 


CHAPTER  VI 

WHAT   DO   THE   STARS   SAY  ? 

THE  sun  which  relieved  the  bay  of  Therapia  from 
the  thraldom  of  night  did  the  same  service  for  the 
Golden  Horn;  only,  with  a  more  potential  voice,  it 
seemed  to  say  to  the  cities  which  were  the  pride  of  the 
latter,  Awake !  Arise !  And  presently  they  were  astir 
indoor  and  out. 

Of  all  the  souls  who,  obedient  to  the  early  summons, 
poured  into  the  street,  and  by  the  south  window  of 
the  study  of  the  Prince  of  India,  some  going  this  direc- 
tion, some  that,  yet  each  intent  upon  a  particular  pur- 
pose, not  one  gave  a  thought  to  the  Prince,  or  so  much 
as  wondered  if  he  were  awake.  And  the  indifference 
of  the  many  was  well  for  him ;  it  gave  him  immunity 
to  pursue  his  specialty.  But  as  we,  the  writer  and  the 
reader,  are  not  of  the  many,  and  have  an  interest  in 
the  man  from  knowing  more  about  him  than  they, 
what  would  have  been  intrusion  in  them  may  be  ex- 
cused in  us. 

Exactly  at  midnight  the  Prince,  aroused  by  Syama, 
had  gone  to  the  roof,  where  there  was  a  table,  with  a 
lamp  upon  it  which  he  could  shade  at  pleasure,  an 
hour-glass,  and  writing  materials.  An  easy  chair  was 
also  set  for  him. 

The  view  of  the  city  offered  for  his  inspection  was 
circumscribed  by  the  night.  The  famous  places  con- 
spicuous in  daytime  might  as  well  have  been  folded 


176 

up  and  put  away  in  a  closet;  he  could  not  see  so 
much  as  a  glimmer  of  light  from  any  of  them. 
Pleased  thereby,  and  arguing  that  even  the  wicked 
are  good  when  asleep,  he  swept  the  heavens  with  a 
glance  so  long  and  searching  there  could  be  no  doubt 
of  the  purpose  which  had  brought  him  forth. 

Next,  according  to  the  habit  of  astrologers,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  divide  the  firmament  into  Angles  and 
Houses,  and  taking  seat  by  the  table,  arranged  the 
lamp  to  suit  him,  started  the  hour-glass  running,  and 
drew  a  diagram  familiar  to  every  adept  in  divinatory 
science — a  diagram  of  the  heavens  with  the  Houses 
numbered  from  one  to  twelve  inclusive. 

In  the  Houses  he  then  set  the  mystic  symbols  of  the 
visible  planets  as  they  were  at  the  moment  in  position, 
mindful  not  merely  of  the  parallels,  but  of  the  degrees 
as  well.  Verifying  the  correctness  of  the  diagram  by 
a  second  survey  of  the  mighty  overarch  more  careful 
even  than  the  first,  he  settled  himself  in  the  chair, 
saying  complacently : 

"Now,  O  Saturn,  thou,  the  coldest  and  highest! 
Thy  Houses  are  ready — come,  and  at  least  behold 
them.  I  wait  the  configurations." 

Thereupon,  perfectly  at  ease,  he  watched  the  stellar 
hosts  while,  to  their  own  music,  they  marched  past  the 
Thrones  of  the  Most  High  Planets  unchallenged  except 
by  him. 

Occasionally  he  sat  up  to  reverse  the  hour-glass, 
though  more  frequently  he  made  new  diagrams,  show- 
ing the  changes  in  position  of  the  several  influential 
bodies  relatively  to  each  other  and  to  the  benefic  or 
malific  signs  upon  which  so  much  of  result  depended ; 
nor  did  his  eyes  once  weary  or  his  zeal  flag. 

Finally  when  the  sun,  yet  under  the  horizon  behind 
the  heights  of  Scutari,  began  to  flood  the  sky  with  a 


177 

brilliance  exceeding  that  of  the  bravest  of  the  stars, 
he  collected  the  drawings,  extinguished  the  lamp,  and 
descended  to  his  study,  but  not  to  rest. 

Immediately  that  the  daylight  was  sufficient,  he 
addressed  himself  to  mathematical  calculations  which 
appeared  exhaustive  of  every  rule  and  branch  of  the 
disciplinary  science.  Hours  flew  by,  and  still  he 
worked.  He  received  Syama's  call  to  breakfast;  re- 
turning from  the  meal,  always  the  simplest  of  the  day 
with  him,  he  resumed  the  problem.  Either  he  was 
prodigiously  intent  on  a  scheme  in  mind,  or  he  was 
occupying  himself  diligently  in  order  to  forget  him- 
self. 

About  noon  he  was  interrupted. 

"My  father." 

Recognizing  the  voice,  he  pushed  the  proofs  of  labor 
from  him  almost  to  the  other  side  of  the  table,  turned 
in  his  seat,  and  replied,  his  face  suffused  with  pleasure : 

"  Thou  enemy  to  labor !  Did  not  some  one  tell  thee 
of  what  I  have  on  hand,  and  how  I  am  working  to 
finish  it  in  time  to  take  the  water  with  thee  this  after- 
noon ?  Answer,  O  my  Gul-Bahar,  more  beautiful 
growing  as  the  days  multiply ! " 

The  Lael  of  the  son  of  Jahdai,  the  Gul-Bahar  of  the 
mysterious  Prince,  was  much  grown,  and  otherwise 
greatly  changed  since  we  saw  her  last.  Each  inter- 
vening year  had  in  passing  left  her  a  benediction. 
She  was  now  about  sixteen,  slight,  and  Jewish  in  eyes, 
hair,  and  complexion.  The  blood  enriched  her  olive 
cheeks ;  the  lips  took  a  double  freshness  from  health ; 
the  smile  resting  habitually  on  the  oval  face  had  a  tale 
it  was  always  telling  of  a  nature  confiding,  happy, 
satisfied  with  its  conditions,  hopeful  of  the  future,  and 
unaware  from  any  sad  experience  that  life  ever  ad- 
mitted of  changes.  Her  beauty  bore  the  marks  of  in- 
12 


178 

telligence ;  her  manner  was  not  enough  self-contained 
to  be  called  courtly ;  yet  it  was  easy,  and  carried  its 
own  certificate  of  culture;  it  yielded  too  much  to 
natural  affection  to  deserve  the  term  dignified.  One 
listening  to  her,  and  noticing  the  variableness  of  her 
mood,  which  in  almost  the  same  instant  could  pass 
from  gay  to  serious  without  ever  reaching  an  extreme, 
would  pronounce  her  too  timid  for  achievement  out- 
side the  purely  domestic ;  at  the  same  time  he  would 
think  she  appeared  lovable  to  the  last  degree,  and 
might  be  capable  of  loving  in  equal  measure. 

She  was  dressed  in  Byzantine  fashion.  In  crossing 
the  street  from  her  father's  house,  she  had  thrown  a 
veil  over  her  head,  but  it  was  now  lying  carelessly 
about  her  neck.  The  wooden  sandals  with  blocks 
under  them,  like  those  yet  worn  by  women  in  Levan- 
tine countries  to  raise  them  out  of  the  dust  and  mud 
when  abroad,  had  been  shaken  lightly  from  her  feet 
at  the  top  of  the  stairs.  Perfectly  at  home,  she  ad- 
vanced to  the  table,  and  put  one  of  her  bare  arms 
around  the  old  man's  neck,  regardless  of  the  white 
locks  it  crushed  close  down,  and  replied : 

"Thou  flatterer!  Do  I  not  know  beauty  is  alto- 
gether in  the  eye  of  the  beholder,  and  that  all  persons 
do  not  see  alike  ?  Tell  me  why,  knowing  the  work 
was  to  be  done,  you  did  not  send  for  me  to  help  you  ? 
Was  it  for  nothing  you  made  me  acquainted  with 
figures  until — I  have  your  authority  for  the  saying — 
I  might  have  stood  for  professor  of  mathematics  in 
the  best  of  the  Alexandrian  schools  ?  Do  not  shake 
your  head  at  me — or  " — 

With  the  new  idea  all  alight  in  her  face,  she  ran 
around  the  table,  and  caught  up  one  of  the  diagrams. 

"Ah,  it  is  as  I  thought,  father!  The  work  I  love 
best,  and  can  do  best !  Whose  is  the  nativity  ?  Not 


mine,  I  know ;  for  I  was  born  in  the  glad  time  when 
Venus  ruled  the  year.  Anael,  her  angel,  held  his 
wings  over  me  against  this  very  wry-faced,  snow- 
chilled  Saturn,  whom  I  am  so  glad  to  see  in  the 
Seventh  House,  which  is  the  House  of  Woe.  Whose 
the  nativity,  I  say  ? " 

"Nay,  child — pretty  child,  and  wilful — you  have 
a  trick  of  getting  my  secrets  from  me.  I  sometimes 
think  I  am  in  thy  hands  no  more  than  tawdry  lace 
just  washed  and  being  wrung  preparatory  to  hanging 
in  the  air  from  thy  lattice.  It  is  well  for  you  to  know 
there  are  some  things  out  of  your  reach — for  the  tune 
at  least." 

"That  is  saying  you  will  tell  me." 

"Yes — some  day." 

"Then  I  will  be  patient." 

Seeing  him  become  thoughtful,  and  look  abstractedly 
out  of  the  window,  she  laid  the  diagram  down,  went 
back,  and  again  put  her  arm  around  his  neck. 

"I  did  not  come  to  interrupt  you,  father,  but  to 
learn  two  things,  and  run  away." 

"You  begin  like  a  rhetorician.  What  subdivisions 
lie  under  those  two  things  ?  Speak !  " 

" Thank  you," she  replied,  quickly.  "First,  Syama 
told  me  you  were  at  some  particular  task,  and  I  wanted 
to  know  if  I  could  help  you." 

"  Dear  heart !  "  he  said,  tenderly. 

"Next — and  this  is  all — I  did  not  want  you  to  forget 
we  are  to  go  up  the  Bosphorus  this  afternoon — up  to 
Therapia,  and  possibly  to  the  sea." 

"  You  wish  to  go  ? "  he  asked. 

"  I  dreamt  of  it  all  night." 

"Then  we  will;  and  to  prove  I  did  not  forget,  the 
boatmen  have  their  orders  already.  We  go  to  the  land' 
ing  directly  after  noon." 


180 

" Not  too  soon,"  she  answered,  laughing.  "I  have 
to  dress,  and  make  myself  gorgeous  as  an  empress. 
The  day  is  soft  and  kind,  and  there  will  be  many 
people  on  the  water,  where  I  am  already  known  quite 
as  well  as  here  in  the  city  as  the  daughter  of  the  Prince 
of  India." 

He  replied  with  an  air  of  pride : 

"  Thou  art  good  enough  for  an  emperor." 

"  Then  I  may  go  and  get  ready." 

She  withdrew  her  arm,  kissed  him,  and  started  to 
the  door,  but  returned,  with  a  troubled  look. 

"  One  thing  more,  father." 

He  was  recovering  his  work,  but  stopped,  and  gave 
her  ear. 

"What  is  it?" 

"You  have  said,  good  father,  that  as  my  studies 
were  too  confining,  it  would  be  well  if  I  took  the  air 
every  day  in  my  sedan.  So,  sometimes  with  Syama, 
sometimes  with  Nilo,  I  had  the  men  carry  me  along 
the  wall  in  front  of  the  Bucoleon.  The  view  over 
the  sea  toward  Mt.  Ida  is  there  very  beautiful;  and 
if  I  look  to  the  landward  side,  right  at  my  feet  are 
the  terraced  gardens  of  the  palace.  Nowhere  do  the 
winds  seem  sweeter  to  me.  For  their  more  perfect 
enjoyment  I  have  at  moments  alighted  from  the 
chair,  and  walked  ;  always  avoiding  acquaintances 
new  and  old.  The  people  appear  to  understand  my 
preference,  and  respect  it.  Of  late,  however,  one  per- 
son— hardly  a  man — has  followed  me,  and  stopped 
near  by  when  I  stopped ;  he  has  even  persisted  in  at- 
tempts to  speak  to  me.  To  avoid  him,  I  went  to  the 
Hippodrome  yesterday,  and  taking  seat  in  front  of 
the  small  obelisks  in  that  quarter,  was  delighted  with 
the  exhibition  of  the  horsemen.  Just  when  the  en- 
tertainment was  at  its  height,  and  most  interesting, 


181 

the  person  of  whom  I  am  speaking  came  and  sat  on 
the  same  bench  with  me.  I  arose  at  once.  It  is  very 
annoying,  father.  What  shall  I  do  ? " 

The  Prince  did  not  answer  immediately,  and  when 
he  did,  it  was  to  ask,  suggestively : 

"  You  say  he  is  young  ? " 

"Yes." 

"His  dress?" 

"  He  seems  to  be  fond  of  high  colors." 

"  You  asked  no  question  concerning  him  ?  " 

' '  No.     Whom  could  I  ask  ? " 

Again  the  Prince  reflected.  Outwardly  he  was  un- 
concerned ;  yet  his  blood  was  more  than  warm — the 
blood  of  pride  which,  as  every  one  knows,  is  easily 
started,  and  can  go  hissing  hot.  He  did  not  wish  her 
to  think  of  the  aff air  too  much ;  therefore  his  air  of 
indifference  ;  nevertheless  it  awoke  a  new  train  of 
thought  in  him. 

If  one  were  to  insult  this  second  Lael  of  his  love, 
what  could  he  do  ?  The  idea  of  appeal  to  a  magis- 
trate was  irritating.  Were  he  to  assume  punishment 
of  the  insolence,  from  whom  could  he  hope  justice  or 
sympathy — he,  a  stranger  living  a  mysterious  life  ? 

He  ran  hastily  over  the  resorts  at  first  sight  open  to 
him.  Nilo  was  an  instrument  always  ready.  A  word 
would  arouse  the  forces  in  that  loyal  but  savage  na- 
ture, and  they  were  forces  subject  to  cunning  which 
never  slept,  never  wearied,  and  was  never  in  a  hurry 
— a  passionless  cunning,  like  that  of  the  Fedavies  of 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain. 

It  may  be  thought  the  Prince  was  magnifying  a 
fancied  trouble;  but  the  certainty  that  sorrow  must 
overtake  him  for  every  indulgence  of  affection  was  a 
haunting  shadow  always  attending  the  most  trifling 
circumstance  to  set  his  imagination,  conjuring  calam- 


182 

ities.  That  at  such  times  his  first  impulse  was  toward 
revenge  is  explicable ;  the  old  law,  an  eye  for  an  eye, 
was  part  of  his  religion;  and  coupling  it  with  per- 
sonal pride  which  a  thought  could  turn  into  consum- 
ing heat,  how  natural  if,  while  the  anticipation  was 
doing  its  work,  his  study  should  be  to  make  the  re- 
Tenge  memorable ! 

Feeling  he  was  not  entirely  helpless  in  the  affair, 
he  thought  best  to  be  patient  awhile,  and  learn  who 
was  the  offender ;  a  conclusion  followed  by  a  resolu- 
tion to  send  Uel  with  the  girl  next  time  she  went  to 
take  the  air. 

"  The  young  men  of  the  city  are  uncontrolled  by 
respect  or  veneration,"  he  said,  quietly.  "  The  follies 
they  commit  are  sometimes  ludicrous.  Better  things 
are  not  to  be  looked  for  in  a  generation  given  to  dress 
as  a  chief  ambition.  And  then  it  may  be,  O  my  Gul- 
Bahar  " — he  kissed  her  as  he  uttered  the  endearment 
— "it  may  be  he  of  whom  you  complain  does  not 
know  who  you  are.  A  word  may  cure  him  of  his 
bad  manners.  Do  not  appear  to  notice  him.  Have 
eyes  for  everything  in  the  world  but  him ;  that  is  the 
virtuous  woman's  defence  against  vulgarity  and  insult 
under  every  circumstance.  Go  now,  and  make  ready 
for  the  boat.  Put  on  your  gayest ;  forget  not  the  last 
necklace  I  gave  you — and  the  bracelets — and  the 
girdle  with  the  rubies.  The  water  from  the  flying 
oars  shall  not  outflash  my  little  girl.  There  now — 
Of  course  we  will  go  to  the  landing  in  our  chairs. " 

When  she  disappeared  down  the  stairs,  he  went 
back  to  his  work. 


CHAPTER  VIE 

THE   PRINCE  OP  INDIA  MEETS  CONSTANTIKE 

IT  is  to  be  remembered  now,  as  very  material  to  our 
story,  that  the  day  the  Prince  of  India  resolved  on  the 
excursion  up  the  Bosphorus  with  Lael  the  exquisite 
stretch  of  water  separated  the  territorial  possessions  of 
the  Greek  Emperor  and  the  Sultan  of  the  Turks. 

In  1355  the  utmost  of  the  once  vast  Roman  domin- 
ions was  "  a  corner  of  Thrace  between  the  Propontis 
(Marmora)  and  the  Black  Sea,  about  fifty  miles  in 
length  and  thirty  in  breadth."  * 

When  Constantino  Dragases — he  of  whom  we  are 
writing — ascended  the  throne,  the  realm  was  even 
more  diminished. 

Galata,  just  across  the  Golden  Horn,  had  become  a 
Genoese  stronghold. 

Scutari,  on  the  Asiatic  shore  almost  vis-a-vis  with 
Constantinople,  was  held  by  a  Turkish  garrison. 

With  small  trouble  the  Sultan  could  have  converted 
the  pitiful  margin  between  Galata  and  the  Cyanean 
rocks  on  the  Black  Sea. 

Once  indeed  he  set  siege  to  Constantinople,  but  was 
beaten  off,  it  was  said,  by  the  Mother  of  God,  who 
appeared  upon  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  in  person 
took  part  in  the  combat.  Thereafter  he  contented 
himself  with  a  tribute  from  the  Emperors  Manuel  and 
John  Palseologus. 

*  Gibbon. 


184 

The  relations  of  the  Christian  and  Moslem  poten- 
tates being  thus  friendly,  it  can  be  seen  how  the 
Princess  Irene  could  keep  to  her  palace  by  Therapia 
and  the  Prince  of  India  plan  jaunts  along  the  Bos- 
phorus. 

Still  there  is  a  point  to  be  borne  in  mind.  Ships 
under  Christian  flags  seldom  touched  at  a  landing 
upon  the  Asiatic  shore.  Their  captains  preferred 
anchoring  in  the  bays  and  close  under  the  ivy-covered 
heights  of  Europe.  This  was  not  from  detestation  or 
religious  intolerance ;  at  bottom  there  was  a  doubt  of 
the  common  honesty  of  the  strong-handed  Turk 
amounting  to  fear.  The  air  was  rife  with  stories  of 
his  treachery.  The  fishermen  in  the  markets  har- 
rowed the  feelings  of  their  timid  customers  with  tales 
of  surprises,  captures,  and  abductions.  Occasionally 
couriers  rushed  through  the  gates  of  Constantinople 
to  report  red  banners  in  motion,  and  the  sound  of 
clarions  and  drums,  signifying  armies  of  Moslems 
gathering  for  mysterious  purposes. 

The  Moslems,  on  their  part,  it  is  but  fair  to  say, 
were  possessed  of  the  same  doubts  of  the  Christians, 
and  had  answers  to  accusations  always  ready.  The 
surprises,  captures,  and  abductions  were  the  unlicensed 
savageries  of  brigands,  of  whom  they  never  knew  one 
not  a  Greek ;  while  the  music  and  flags  belonged  to 
the  militia. 

Six  or  seven  miles  above  Scutari  a  small  river,  born 
in  the  adjacent  highlands,  runs  merrily  down  to  meet 
and  mingle  with  the  tideless  Bosphorus.  The  water 
it  yields  is  clear  and  fresh;  whence  the  name  of  the 
stream,  The  Sweet  Waters  of  Asia.  On  its  south 
side  there  is  a  prairie-like  stretch,  narrow,  but  green 
and  besprent  with  an  orchard  of  sycamores  old  and 
gnarled,  and  now  much  frequented  on  Mohammedan 


185 

Sundays  by  ladies  of  the  harems,  who  contrive  to 
make  it  very  gay.  No  doubt  the  modest  river,  and 
the  grass  and  great  trees  were  just  as  attractive  ages 
before  the  first  Amurath,  with  an  army  at  his  heels, 
halted  there  for  a  night.  From  that  time,  however, 
it  was  banned  by  the  Greeks ;  and  for  a  reason. 

On  the  north  bank  of  the  little  river  there  was  a 
fortress  known  as  the  White  Castle.  An  irregular, 
many-angled  pile  of  undressed  stone  heavily  merloned 
on  top,  its  remarkable  feature  was  a  tall  donjon  which 
a  dingy  white  complexion  made  visible  a  great  dis- 
tance, despite  its  f  reckling  of  loopholes  and  apertures 
for  machine  artillery.  Seeing  its  military  importance, 
the  Sultan  left  a  garrison  to  hold  it.  He  was  also 
pleased  to  change  its  name  to  Acce-Chisar. 

The  blood-red  flag  on  this  donjon  was,  at  the  era 
engaging  us,  the  disenchanter  of  the  Greeks;  inso- 
much that  in  passing  the  Sweet  Waters  of  Asia  they 
hugged  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Bosphorus,  crossing 
themselves  and  muttering  prayers  often  of  irreligious 
compound.  A  stork  has  a  nest  on  the  donjon  now. 
As  an  apparition  it  is  not  nearly  so  suggestive  as  the 
turbaned  sentinel  who  used  to  occupy  its  outlook. 

The  popular  imagination  located  dungeons  under 
the  grim  old  Castle,  whence,  of  the  many  Christian 
men  and  women  immured  there,  it  was  said  none  ever 
came  forth  alive. 

But  for  these  things,  whether  true  or  false,  the 
Prince  of  India  cared  little.  He  was  not  afraid  of  the 
Turks.  If  the  Asiatic  shore  had  been  festooned  with 
red  flags  from  the  City  of  the  Blind  down  by  the  Isles 
of  the  Princes  to  the  last  of  the  gray  fortresses  over- 
looking the  Symplegades,  it  would  not  have  altered  a 
plan  of  his  jot  or  tittle.  Enough  that  Lael  wanted  and 
needed  an  outing  on  the  glorious  Bosphorus. 


M 

Accordingly,  shortly  after  noon  two  chairs  wers 
brought  and  set  down  in  his  house.  That  is  to  say, 
two  upright  boxes  fixed  centrally  on  poles,  and  differ- 
ing in  nowise  from  the  sedans  still  the  mode  of  car- 
riage affected  by  ladies  of  Constantinople  unless  it 
might  be  in  their  richer  appointments.  Inside,  all 
was  silk,  lace  and  cushions ;  outside,  the  inlaying  of 
mother  of  pearl  and  vari-colored  woods  was  suggestive 
of  modern  papier-mache.  The  entrance  was  by  a 
door  in  the  front.  A  window  in  the  door,  and  lesser 
ones  on  the  sides,  afforded  the  inmate  air  and  oppor- 
tunity for  speech.  Not  wanting  to  be  seen,  she  had 
only  to  draw  the  curtains  together.  In  this  instance 
it  must  be  said  the  decoration  of  the  carriages  had 
been  carried  to  an  extreme. 

Soon  as  the  chairs  were  set  down  in  the  house,  the 
Prince  and  Lael  descended  the  stairs.  The  latter  was 
attired  in  a  semi-Greek  costume,  very  rich  and  be- 
coming; to  embroidery  of  gold,  she  added  bracelets, 
and  a  necklace  of  large  pearls  strung  between  spheres 
of  gold  equally  large.  A  coronet  graced  her  head, 
and  it  was  so  bejewelled  that  in  bright  light  it  seemed 
some  one  was  sprinkling  her  with  an  incessant  shower 
of  sparkles. 

The  two  took  their  seats.  The  carriers,  two  to  each 
litter,  stalwart  men,  uniformly  clad  in  loose  white 
garments,  raised  the  poles  on  their  shoulders.  Syama 
threw  the  door  of  the  house  open,  and  at  a  signal  from 
the  Prince  the  procession  sallied  into  the  street.  The 
crowd,  in  expectant  waiting  there,  received  it  in  silent 
wonder. 

It  is  due  the  truth  to  say  now  that  the  common  eye 
was  attracted  by  the  appearance  of  Nilo  as  much  as 
by  the  rarities  wrought  in  the  panelling  of  the  car- 
riages. He  strode  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  advance  of  Lael 


187 

who,  in  the  place  of  honor,  was  completely  under  the 
Prince's  observation.  The  negro's  costume  was  of  a 
King  of  Kash-Cush.  The  hair  stood  on  end  in  stiff 
cues,  sharply  pointed,  and  held  by  a  chain  of  silver 
medals ;  an  immense  ring  of  silver  hung  from  the  car- 
tilage of  his  nose.  The  neck  was  defended  by  a  gor- 
get of  leather  bristling  with  the  fangs  and  claws  of 
tigers  in  alternating  rows.  A  robe  of  scarlet  cloth 
large  enough  to  envelop  the  man  was  thrown  behind 
the  massive  shoulders.  The  body,  black  as  polished 
ebony,  was  naked  to  the  waist,  whence  a  white  skirt 
fell  to  the  knees.  The  arms  and  legs  were  adorned 
with  bracelets  and  anklets  of  ivory,  while  the  straps 
of  the  heavy  sandals  were  bordered  with  snail-shells. 
On  the  left  arm  he  bore  a  round  shield  of  rhinoceros 
hide  embossed  in  brass ;  in  the  right  hand,  a  pointless 
lance.  Towering  high  above  the  heads  of  the  crowd 
which  opened  before  him  with  alacrity,  the  admira- 
tion received  by  the  Prince's  ally  and  friend  was  but 
a  well-deserved  tribute. 

"  A  tiger-hunter  ! "  said  one,  to  a  friend  at  his  elbow. 

"I  should  call  him  king  of  the  tiger-hunters,"  the 
friend  replied. 

"  Only  a  Prince  of  India  would  carry  such  a  pen- 
sioner with  him,"  another  remarked. 

"  What  a  man!  "  said  a  woman,  half  afraid. 

"An  infidel,  no  doubt,"  was  the  answer. 

"  It  is  not  a  Christian  wish,  I  know, "  the  first  added ; 
"  still  I  should  like  to  see  him  face  a  lion  in  the  Cyne- 
gion." 

"  Ay,  him  they  call  Tamerlane,  because  he  is  shorn 
of  two  toes." 

The  Prince,  casting  a  glance  of  scarce  concealed 
contempt  over  the  throng,  sighed,  as  he  muttered. 
"  If  now  I  could  meet  the  Emperor ! " 


188 

The  exclamation  was  from  his  heart. 

We  have  seen  the  idea  which  lured  him  to  Mecca, 
and  brought  him  to  Constantinople.  In  the  years 
since  flown,  it  was  held  subordinate  to  his  love  of 
Lael — subordinate  merely.  Latterly  it  had  revived 
with  much  of  its  original  force,  and  he  was  now  for 
the  first  time  seriously  scheming  for  an  interview 
with  the  Emperor.  No  doubt  a  formal  request  would 
have  secured  the  honor ;  but  it  was  in  his  view  better 
policy  to  be  sought  than  seek,  and  with  all  his  wealth, 
there  was  nothing  he  could  so  well  afford  to  pay  for 
success  as  time.  In  his  study,  he  was  continually 
saying  to  himself : 

"  It  cannot  be  that  the  extravagances  to  which  I  am 
going  will  fail.  He  will  hear  of  me,  or  we  may  meet 
— then  the  invitation ! — And  then  I  will  propose  the 
Brotherhood — God  help  me !  But  it  is  for  him  to  in- 
vite me.  Patience,  O  my  soul ! " 

Extravagances ! 

The  exclamation  helps  us  to  an  understanding  ol 
the  style  he  was  carrying  before  the  public — the  sil- 
vering on  his  own  black  velvet  robe,  the  jewels  in 
Lael's  coronet  bursting  with  light,  the  gorgeous  fin- 
ish of  the  sedans,  the  barbaric  costuming  of  Nilo. 
They  were  not  significant  of  his  taste.  Except  for 
what  they  might  bring  him,  he  did  not  care  for 
jewels.  And  as  for  Lael,  he  would  have  loved  her 
for  her  name's  sake,  and  her  honest,  untarnished 
Jewish  blood.  Let  us  believe  so  at  least  until  we 
find  otherwise. 

Nilo,  by  this  time  familiar  with  every  quarter  of  the 
city,  was  told  the  boat  was  in  readiness  for  the  party 
at  a  landing  near  the  Grand  Gate  of  Blacherne;  to 
make  which,  it  being  on  the  Golden  Horn  well  up 
in  the  northwest,  he  must  turn  the  hill  back  of  the 


189 

Prince's  residence,  and  pursue  one  of  the  streets  run- 
ning parallel  with  the  wall.  Thither  he  accordingly 
bent  his  steps,  followed  by  the  porters  of  the  sedans, 
and  an  increasing  but  respectful  assemblage  of  curi- 
ous citizens. 

Scarcely  had  the  progress  begun  before  the  Prince, 
watching  through  his  front  window,  saw  a  man  ap- 
proach the  side  of  Lael's  chair,  and  peer  into  it.  His 
wit  served  him  well  and  instantly. 

"  'Tis  he — the  insolent! — Close  up!  "  he  cried,  to  his 
porters. 

The  intruder  at  the  sound  of  his  voice  looked  at  him 
once,  then  disappeared  in  the  throng.  He  was  young, 
handsome,  showily  dressed,  and  beyond  question  the 
person  of  whom  Lael  had  complained.  Though  smart- 
ing under  the  insult,  and  a  suspicion,  suddenly  en- 
gendered, of  a  watch  kept  over  his  house,  the  Prince 
concluded  the  stranger  was  of  noble  connection,  and 
that  the  warrant  for  his  boldness  was  referable  to  fam- 
ily influence.  While  his  subtle  mind  was  pothering 
with  schemes  of  detection,  the  affair  presented  itself 
in  another  light,  and  he  laughed  at  his  own  dulness. 

"  'Tis  nothing,"  he  reflected— "nothing!  The  boy 
is  in  love,  and  allowing  his  passion  to  make  a  fool  of 
him.  I  have  only  to  see  my  pretty  Gul-Bahar  does 
not  return  the  madness." 

Deciding  then  to  make  inquiry  and  satisfy  himself 
who  the  young  admirer  was,  he  dismissed  the  subject. 

Presently  Nilo  turned  into  a  street  of  some  width 
compared  with  the  generality  of  thoroughfares  in  the 
city.  On  the  left  hand  were  shops  and  pretentious 
houses;  on  the  right,  towered  the  harbor  wall.  The 
people  attending  the  procession  increased  instead  of 
dispersing;  but  as  they  continued  in  good  nature, 
they  gave  him  no  concern.  Their  comments  amongst 


190 

themselves  were  about  equally  divided  between  Nilo 
and  Lael. 

"Beautiful,  beautiful!"  one  said,  catching  sight  of 
the  latter  through  the  windows  of  the  chair. 

"Who  is  she?" 

"  A  daughter  of  a  Prince  of  India." 

"  And  the  Prince— Who  is  he  ? " 

"Ask  some  one  who  knows.  There  he  is  in  the 
second  chair." 

Once  a  woman  went  close  to  Lael,  snatched  a  look, 
and  stepped  back,  with  clasped  hands,  crying: 

"  'Tis  the  Sweet  Mother  herself ! " 

Without  other  incident,  the  procession  passed  the 
gate  of  St.  Peter,  and  was  nearing  that  of  Blacherne, 
when  a  flourish  of  trumpets  announced  a  counter 
pageant  coming  down  the  street  from  the  opposite 
direction.  A  man  near  by  shouted : 

' '  The  Emperor !    The  Emperor ! " 

Another  seconded  him. 

"  Long  live  the  good  Constantino ! " 

The  words  were  hardly  uttered  before  they  were 
answered : 

"The  azymite!  The  azymite!  Down  with  the 
betrayer  of  Christ ! " 

In  less  than  a  minute  the  Prince  was  being  borne 
along  in  the  midst  of  two  howling  factions.  Scarcely 
knowing  whether  to  take  Lael  into  a  house  or  go  on, 
he  tried  to  communicate  with  Nilo ;  but  in  unconscious- 
ness of  the  tempest  so  suddenly  risen,  that  grandson 
of  a  king  marched  on  in  unremitted  stateliness,  until 
directly  a  band  of  trumpeters  in  magnificent  livery 
confronted  him. 

The  astonishment  was  mutual.  Nilo  halted,  drop- 
ping his  headless  lance  in  defence;  the  trumpeters 
quit  blowing,  and,  opening  order,  filed  hastily  by 


191 

their  faces  saying  with  a  distinctness  words 
could  not  have  helped : 

' '  A  son  of  Satan !    Beware ! " 

The  chairs  were  also  brought  to  a  halt. 

Thereupon  the  people,  now  a  rnob  apparently  ready 
to  tear  each  other  into  bloody  ribbons,  refused  to  give 
way  to  the  trumpeters.  Nilo  finally  comprehending 
the  situation  returned  to  Lael  just  as  the  Prince  on 
foot  came  up  to  her.  She  was  pale  and  trembling 
with  fear. 

The  deadlock  between  the  musicians  and  the  mob 
was  brought  to  an  end  by  the  appearance  of  a  detach- 
ment of  the  Imperial  guard.  A  mounted  officer,  jave- 
lin in  hand,  rode  up  and  shouted : 

"  The  Emperor !     Make  way  for  the  Emperor !  " 

While  he  was  speaking,  the  horsemen  behind  him 
came  on  steadily.  There  was  irresistible  persuasion 
in  the  glitter  of  their  spears ;  besides  it  was  matter  of 
universal  knowledge  that  the  steel  panoply  of  each 
rider  concealed  a  mercenary  foreigner  who  was  never 
so  happy  as  when  riding  over  a  Greek.  One  yell 
louder  and  more  defiant  than  any  yet  uttered — "The 
azymite,  the  azymite!" — and  the  mob  broke  and 
fled.  At  a  signal  from  the  officer,  the  guards,  as  they 
came  on,  opened  right  and  left  of  the  chairs,  and 
passed  them  with  scarce  notice. 

A  few  words  from  the  Prince  to  Lael  dispelled  her 
fears. 

"It  is  an  every-day  affair,"  he  said,  lightly;  "an 
amusement  of  the  people,  the  Roman  factionists 
against  the  Greek.  Nobody  is  ever  hurt,  except  in 
howling  he  opens  his  jaws  too  wide." 

The  levity  was  affected,  but  mastering  the  irritation 
he  really  felt,  the  Prince  was  about  to  make  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  officer  for  his  timely  intervention. 


192 

when  another  personage  appeared,  claiming  his  atten- 
tion. Indeed  his  heart  began  beating  unusually  fast, 
and  in  spite  of  himself  his  face  flushed — he  knew 
he  had  his  wish — the  meeting  with  Constantine  was 
come! 

The  last  Emperor  of  the  Byzantines  sat  in  an  open 
chair  borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  eight  carriers  in 
striking  livery — a  handsome  man  in  his  forty-sixth 
year,  though  apparently  not  more  than  thirty-eight 
or  forty.  His  costume  was  that  of  Basileus,  which, 
was  a  religious  dignity. 

A  close-fitting  cap  of  red  velvet  covered  his  head, 
with  a  knot  of  purple  silk  triply  divided  on  the  top ; 
while  a  pliable  circlet  of  golden  scales,  clearing  the 
brows,  held  the  cap  securely  in  place.  On  each  scale 
a  ruby  of  great  size  sparkled  in  solitaire  setting.  The 
circlet  was  further  provided  with  four  strings  of 
pearls,  two  by  each  ear,  dangling  well  down  below 
in  front  of  the  shoulders.  A  loose  drab  robe  or  gown, 
drawn  close  at  the  waist,  clothed  him,  neck,  arms, 
body  and  nether  limbs,  answering  excellently  as 
ground  for  a  cope  the  color  of  the  cap,  divided  before 
and  behind  into  embroidered  squares  defined  by  rows 
of  pearls.  Boots  of  purple  leather,  also  embroidered, 
gave  finish  to  the  costume.  Instead  of  sword  or 
truncheon,  he  carried  a  plain  ivory  crucifix.  The 
people  staring  at  him  from  the  doors  and  windows 
knew  he  was  going  to  Sancta  Sophia  intent  on  some 
religious  service. 

While  the  Emperor  was  thus  borne  down  upon  the 
Prince,  his  dark  eyes,  kindly  looking,  glanced  from 
Nilo  to  Lael,  and  finally  came  to  rest  full  upon  the 
face  of  the  master.  The  officer  returned  to  him.  A 
few  paces  off,  the  imperial  chair  stopped,  and  a  con- 
versation ensued,  during  which  a  number  of  high 


193 

officials  who  were  of  the  sovereign's  suite  on  foot 
closed  up  in  position  to  separate  their  Lord  from  a 
mounted  rear  guard. 

The  Prince  of  India  kept  his  mind  perfectly.  Hav- 
ing exchanged  glances  with  the  Emperor,  he  was  sat- 
isfied an  impression  was  made  strong  enough  to  pique 
curiosity,  and  at  the  same  time  fix  him  in  the  royal 
memory.  With  a  quick  sense  of  the  proprieties,  he 
thereupon  addressed  himself  to  moving  his  carriages 
to  the  left,  that  when  the  conference  with  the  officers 
was  concluded  the  Emperor  might  have  the  right  of 
way  with  the  least  possible  obstruction. 

Presently  the  Acolyte — such  the  officer  proved  to  be 
— approached  the  Prince. 

"  His  Imperial  Majesty,"  he  said,  courteously, 
"would  be  pleased  could  I  inform  him  the  name 
and  title  of  the  stranger  whose  progress  he  has  been 
so  unfortunate  as  to  interrupt." 

The  Prince  answered  with  dignity : 

"  I  thank  you,  noble  sir,  for  the  fair  terms  in  which 
you  couch  the  inquiry,  not  less  than  the  rescue  I  and 
my  daughter  owe  you  from  the  mob." 

The  Acolyte  bowed. 

"  And  not  to  keep  his  Imperial  Majesty  waiting," 
the  Prince  continued,  "return  him  the  compliments 
of  a  Prince  of  India,  at  present  a  resident  of  this  royal 
and  ancient  capital.  Say  also  it  will  give  me  happi- 
ness far  beyond  the  power  of  words  when  I  am  per- 
mitted to  salute  him,  and  render  the  veneration  and 
court  to  which  his  character  and  place  amongst  the 
rulers  of  the  earth  entitle  him." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  complex,  though  courtierly 
reply,  the  speaker  walked  two  steps  forward,  faced  the 
Emperor,  and  touched  the  ground  with  his  palms,  and 
rising,  carried  them  to  his  forehead. 
13 


194 

The  answer  duly  delivered,  the  Emperor  responded 
to  the  salaam  with  a  bow  and  another  message. 

"His  Imperial  Majesty,"  the  Acolyte  said,  "is 
pleased  at  meeting  the  Prince  of  India.  He  was  not 
aware  he  had  a  guest  of  such  distinction  in  his  capi- 
tal. He  desires  to  know  the  place  of  residence  of  his 
noble  friend,  that  he  may  communicate  with  him, 
and  make  amends  for  the  hindrance  which  has  over- 
taken him  to-day." 

The  Prince  gave  his  address,  and  the  interview 
ended. 

It  is  of  course  the  reader's  privilege  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  the  incidents  of  this  rencounter ;  at  least 
one  of  the  parties  to  it  was  greatly  pleased,  for  he 
knew  the  coveted  invitation  would  speedily  follow. 

While  the  Emperor  was  borne  past,  Lael  received 
his  notice  more  especially  than  her  guardian ;  when 
they  were  out  of  hearing,  he  called  the  Acolyte  to  his 
side. 

"Didst  thou  observe  the  young  person  yonder?" 
he  asked. 

"  The  coronet  she  wears  certifies  the  Prince  of  India 
to  be  vastly  rich,"  the  other  answered. 

"Yes,  the  Princes  of  India,  if  we  may  judge  by 
common  report,  are  all  rich  ;  wherefore  I  thought 
not  of  that,  but  rather  of  the  beauty  of  his  daughter. 
She  reminded  me  of  the  Madonna  on  the  Panagia  in 
the  transept  of  our  church  at  Blacherne." 


CHAPTER 

RACING   WITH   A   STORM 

OWE  who  has  seen  the  boats  in  which  fishermen 
now  work  the  eddies  and  still  waters  of  the  Bosphorus 
will  not  require  a  description  of  the  vessel  the  Prince 
and  Lael  stepped  into  when  they  arrived  at  the  Grand 
Gate  of  Blacherne.  He  need  only  be  told  that  instead 
of  being  pitch-black  outside  and  in,  it  was  white,  except 
the  gunwale  which  was  freshly  gilt.  The  untravelled 
reader,  however,  must  imagine  a  long  narrow  craft, 
upturned  at  both  ends,  graceful  in  every  line,  and 
constructed  for  speed  and  beauty.  Well  aft  there  was 
a  box  without  cover,  luxuriously  cushioned,  lined  with 
chocolate  velvet,  and  wide  enough  to  seat  two  persons 
comfortably ;  behind  it,  a  decked  space  for  a  servant, 
pilot  or  guard.  This  arrangement  left  all  forward  for 
the  rowers,  each  handling  two  oars. 

Ten  rowers,  trained,  stout,  and  clad  in  white  head- 
kerchiefs,  shirts  and  trousers  of  the  same  hue,  and 
Greek  jackets  of  brilliant  scarlet,  profusely  figured 
over  with  yellow  braid,  sat  stolidly,  blades  in  hand 
and  ready  dipped,  when  the  passengers  took  their 
places,  the  Prince  and  Lael  in  the  box,  and  Nilo  be- 
hind them  as  guard.  The  vessel  was  too  light  to  per- 
mit a  ceremonious  reception. 

In  front  of  the  party,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the 
famous  harbor,  were  the  heights  of  Pera.  The  ravines 
and  grass-green  benches  into  which  they  were  broken. 


196 

with  here  and  there  a  garden  hut  enclosed  in  a  patch 
of  filbert  bushes — for  Pera  was  not  then  the  city  it  now 
is — were  of  no  interest  to  the  Prince;  dropping1  his 
eyes  to  the  water,  they  took  in  a  medley  of  shipping* 
then  involuntarily  turned  to  the  cold  gray  face  of  the 
wall  he  was  leaving.  And  while  seeing  in  vivid  recol- 
lection the  benignant  countenance  of  Constantino  bent 
upon  him  from  the  chair  in  the  street,  he  thought  of 
the  [horoscope  he  had  spent  the  night  in  taking  and 
the  forenoon  in  calculating.  With  a  darkened  brow, 
he  gave  the  word,  and  the  boat  was  pushed  off  and 
presently  seeking  the  broader  channel  of  the  Bos- 
phorus. 

The  day  was  delightful.  A  breeze  danced  merrily 
over  the  surface  of  the  water.  Soft  white  summer 
clouds  hung  so  sleepily  in  the  southwest  they  scarce 
suggested  motion.  Seeing  the  color  deepen  in  Lael's 
cheeks,  and  listening  to  her  questions,  he  surrendered 
himself  to  the  pleasures  of  the  situation,  not  the  least 
being  the  admiration  she  attracted. 

By  ships  at  anchor,  and  through  lesser  craft  of 
every  variety  they  sped,  followed  by  exclamations 
frequently  outspoken : 

"  Who  is  she  ?    Who  can  she  be  ? " 

Thus  pursued,  they  flew  past  the  gate  of  St.  Peter, 
turned  the  point  of  Galata,  and  left  the  Fish  Market 
port  behind ;  proceeding  then  in  parallelism  with  the 
north  shore,  they  glided  under  the  great  round  tower 
so  tall  and  up  so  far  overhead  it  seemed  a  part  of  the 
sky.  Off  Tophane,  they  were  in  the  Bosphorus,  with 
Scutari  at  their  right,  and  Point  Serail  at  their  backs. 

Viewed  from  the  harbor  on  the  sea,  the  old  historic 
Point  leaves  upon  the  well  informed  an  impression 
that  in  a  day  long  gone,  yielding  to  a  spasm  of 
justice,  Asia  cast  it  off  into  the  waves.  Its  beauty  is 


197 

Circean.  Almost  from  the  beginning  it  has  been  the 
chosen  place  in  which  men  ran  rounds  gay  and  grave, 
virtuous  and  wanton,  foolish  and  philosophic,  brave 
and  cowardly — where  love,  hate,  jealousy,  avarice, 
ambition  and  envy  have  delighted  to  burn  their  lights 
before  Heaven — where,  possibly  with  one  exception, 
Providence  has  more  frequently  come  nearer  lifting  its 
veil  than  in  any  other  spot  of  earth. 

Again  and  again,  the  Prince,  loth  to  quit  the  view, 
turned  and  refilled  his  eyes  with  Sancta  Sophia,  of 
which,  from  his  position,  the  wall  at  the  water's  edge, 
the  lesser  churches  of  the  Virgin  Hodegetria  and  St. 
Irene,  and  the  topmost  sections  far  extending  of  the 
palaces  of  Bucoleon  seemed  but  foundations.  The  edi- 
fice, as  he  saw  it  then,  depended  on  itself  for  effect, 
the  Turk  having  not  yet,  in  sign  of  Mohammedan  con- 
version, broken  the  line  of  its  marvellous  dome  with 
minarets.  At  length  he  set  about  telling  stories  of 
the  Point. 

Off  the  site  of  the  present  palace  of  Dolma-Batchi 
he  told  of  Euphrosyne,  the  daughter  of  the  Empress 
Irene;  and  seeing  how  the  sorrowful  fortune  of  the 
beautiful  child  engaged  Lael's  sympathies,  he  became 
interested  as  a  narrator,  and  failed  to  notice  the  un- 
usual warmth  tempering  the  air  about  Tchiragan. 
Neither  did  he  observe  that  the  northern  sky,  before  so 
clear  and  blue,  was  whitening  with  haze. 

To  avoid  the  current  running  past  Arnoot-Kouy, 
the  rowers  crossed  to  the  Asiatic  side  under  the  prom- 
ontory of  Candilli. 

Other  boats  thronged  the  charming  expanse ;  but  as 
most  of  them  were  of  a  humbler  class  sporting  one 
rower,  the  Prince's,  with  its  liveried  ten,  was  a  sur- 
passing attraction.  Sometimes  the  strangers,  to  grat- 
ify their  curiosity,  drew  quite  near,  but  always  without 


198 

affronting  him ;  knowing  the  homage  was  to  Lael,  he 
was  happy  when  it  was  effusively  rendered. 

His  progress  was  most  satisfactory  until  he  rounded 
Candilli.  Then  a  flock  of  small  boats  came  down 
upon  him  pell-mell,  the  rowers  pulling  their  utter 
most,  the  passengers  in  panic. 

The  urgency  impelling  them  was  equally  recognized 
by  the  ships  and  larger  vessels  out  in  the  channel. 
Anchors  were  going  down,  sails  furling,  and  oars 
drawing  in.  Above  them,  moreover,  much  beyond 
then*  usual  levels  of  flight  troops  of  gulls  were  circling 
on  rapid  wings  screaming  excitedly. 

The  Prince  had  reached  the  part  of  greatest  interest 
hi  the  story  he  was  telling — how  the  cruel  and  re- 
morseless Emperor  Michel,  determined  to  wed  the  in- 
nocent and  helpless  Euphrosyne,  shamelessly  cheated 
the  Church  and  cajoled  the  Senate — when  Nilo  touched 
his  shoulder,  and  awoke  him  to  the  situation.  A 
glance  over  the  water — another  at  the  sky — and  he 
comprehended  danger  of  some  kind  was  impending. 
At  the  same  moment  Lael  commenced  shivering 
and  complaining  of  cold.  The  air  had  undergone  a 
sudden  change.  Presently  Nile's  red  cloak  was  shel- 
tering her. 

The  boat  was  in  position  to  bring  everything  into 
view,  and  he  spoke  to  the  rowers: 

"A  storm  is  rising." 

They  ceased  work,  and  looked  over  their  shoulders, 
each  for  himself . 

"A  blow  from  the  sea,  and  it  comes  fast.  What  we 
shall  do  is  for  my  Lord  to  say,"  one  of  them  returned. 

The  Prince  grew  anxious  for  Lael.  What  was  done 
must  be  for  her — he  had  no  thought  else. 

A  cloud  was  forming  over  the  whole  northeastern 
quarter  of  the  sky,  along  the  horizon  black,  overhead 


199 

ft  vast  gray  wave,  in  its  heart  copper-hued,  seething, 
interworking,  now  a  distended  sail,  now  a  sail  bursted ; 
and  the  wind  could  be  heard  whipping  the  shreds  into 
fleece,  and  whirling  them  a  confusion  of  vaporous 
banners.  Yet  glassy,  the  water  reflected  the  tint  of 
the  cloud.  The  hush  holding  it  was  like  the  drawn 
breath  of  a  victim  waiting  the  first  turn  of  the  tor- 
turous wheel. 

The  Asiatic  shore  offered  the  Prince  a  long  stretch, 
and  he  persisted  in  coasting  it  until  the  donjon  of  the 
White  Castle — that  terror  to  Christians — arrested  his 
eye.  There  were  houses  much  nearer,  some  of  them 
actually  overhanging  the  water;  but  the  donjon 
seemed  specially  inviting;  at  all  events,  he  coolly 
reflected,  if  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  denied  him 
refuge,  the  little  river  near  by  known  as  the  Sweet 
Waters  of  Asia  would  receive  him,  and  getting  under 
its  bank,  he  might  hope  to  escape  the  fury  of  the  wind 
and  waves.  He  shouted  resolutely : 

"To  the  White  Castle!  Make  it  before  the  wind 
strikes,  my  men,  and  I  will  double  your  hire." 

"  We  may  make  it,"  the  rower  answered,  somewhat 
sullenly,  "but"— 

"  What  ? "  asked  the  Prince. 

"  The  devil  has  his  lodgings  there.  Many  men  have 
gone  into  its  accursed  gates  on  errands  of  peace,  and 
never  been  heard  of  again." 

The  Prince  laughed. 

"  We  lose  time — forward  1  If  there  be  a  fiend  in  the 
Castle,  I  promise  you  he  is  not  waiting  for  us." 

The  twenty  oars  fell  as  one,  and  the  boat  jumped 
like  a  steed  under  a  stab  of  the  spur. 

Thus  boldly  the  race  with  the  storm  was  begun.  The 
judgment  of  the  challenger,  assuming  the  Prince  to  be 
such,  may  be  questioned.  The  river  was  the  goal 


SMO 

Could  he  reach  it  before  the  wind  descended  in 
dangerous  force  ? — That  was  the  very  point  of  con- 
test. 

The  chances,  it  is  to  be  remembered  next,  were  not 
of  a  kind  to  admit  weighing  with  any  approach  to  cer- 
tainty ;  it  was  difficult  even  to  marshal  them  for  con- 
sideration. The  distance  was  somewhat  less  than 
three-quarters  of  a  mile;  on  the  other  part,  the  com- 
peting cloud  was  wrestling  with  the  mountain  height 
of  Alem  Daghy,  about  four  miles  away.  The  dead 
calm  was  an  advantage;  unfortunately  it  was  more 
than  offset  by  the  velocity  of  the  current  which,  though 
not  so  strong  by  the  littoral  of  Candilli  as  under  the 
opposite  bluffs  of  Roumeli-Hissar,  was  still  a  serious 
opposing  force.  The  boatmen  were  skilful,  and  could 
be  relied  upon  to  pull  loyally ;  for,  passing  the  reward 
offered  in  the  event  of  their  winning,  the  dangers  of 
failure  were  to  them  alike.  Treating  the  contest  as  a 
race,  with  the  storm  and  the  boat  as  competitors,  the 
Prince  was  not  without  chances  of  success. 

But  whatever  the  outcome  of  the  venture,  Lael 
would  be  put  to  discomfort.  His  care  of  her  was  so 
habitually  marked  by  tender  solicitude  one  cannot 
avoid  wondering  at  him  now. 

After  all  he  may  have  judged  the  affair  more  close- 
ly than  at  first  appears.  The  sides  of  the  boat  were 
low,  but  danger  from  that  cause  might  be  obviated  by 
the  skill  of  the  rowers ;  and  then  Alem  Daghy  was  not 
a  trifling  obstacle  in  the  path  of  the  gale.  It  might  be 
trusted  to  hold  the  cloud  awhile;  after  which  a  time 
would  be  required  by  the  wind  to  travel  the  miles  in- 
tervening. 

Certainly  it  had  been  more  prudent  to  make  the 
shore,  and  seek  refuge  in  one  of  the  houses  there. 
But  the  retort  of  the  spirited  Jew  of  that  day,  as  in 


201 

this,  was  a  contemptuous  refusal  of  assistance;  and 
the  degree  to  which  this  son  of  Israel  was  governed 
by  the  eternal  resentment  can  be  best  appreciated  by 
recalling  the  number  of  his  days  on  earth. 

At  the  first  response  to  the  vigorous  pull  of  the  oars- 
men, Lael  drew  the  red  cloak  over  her  face,  and  laid 
her  head  against  the  Prince.  He  put  his  arm  around 
her,  and  seeing  nothing  and  saying  nothing,  she 
trusted  in  him. 

The  rowers,  pulling  with  strength  from  the  start, 
gradually  quickened  the  stroke,  and  were  presently  in 
perfect  harmony  of  action.  A  short  sough  accom- 
panied each  dip  of  the  blades ;  an  expiration,  like  thai 
of  the  woodman  striking  a  blow  with  his  axe,  an- 
nounced the  movement  completed.  The  cords  of  their 
brawny  necks  played  fast  and  free;  the  perspiration 
ran  down  their  faces  like  rain  upon  glass.  Their  teeth 
clinched.  They  turned  neither  right  nor  left ;  but  with 
then*  straining  eyes  fixed  upon  him,  by  his  looks 
they  judged  both  their  own  well-doing  and  the  prog- 
ress of  their  competitor. 

Seeing  the  boat  pointed  directly  toward  the  Castle, 
the  Prince  watched  the  cloud.  Occasionally  he  com' 
mended  the  rowers. 

"Well  done,  my  men! — Hold  to  that,  and  we  will 
win!" 

The  unusual  brightness  of  his  eyes  alone  betrayed 
excitement.  Once  he  looked  over  the  yet  quiet  upper 
field  of  water.  His  was  the  only  vessel  in  motion. 
Even  the  great  ships  were  lying  to.  No — there  was 
another  small  boat  like  his  own  coming  down  along 
the  Asiatic  shore  as  if  to  meet  him.  Its  position  ap- 
peared about  as  far  above  the  mouth  of  the  river  as 
his  was  below  it;  and  its  three  or  five  rower*  were 
plainly  doing  their  best. 


302 

With  grim  pleasure,  he  accepted  the  stranger  as 
another  competitor  in  the  race. 

The  friendly  heights  of  Alem,  seen  from  the  Bos- 
phorus,  are  one  great  forest  always  beautifully  green. 
Even  as  the  Prince  looked  at  them,  they  lost  color,  as 
if  a  hand  out  of  the  cloud  had  suddenly  dropped  a  cur- 
tain of  white  gauze  over  them.  He  glanced  back  over 
the  course,  then  forward.  The  donjon  was  showing 
the  loopholes  that  pitted  its  southern  face.  Excellent 
as  the  speed  had  been,  more  was  required.  Half  the 
distance  remained  to  be  overcome — and  the  enemy  not 
four  miles  away. 

"Faster,  men!"  he  called  out.  "The  gust  has 
broken  from  the  mountain.  I  hear  its  roaring." 

They  turned  involuntarily,  and  with  a  look  meas- 
ured the  space  yet  to  be  covered,  the  distance  of  the 
foe,  and  the  rate  at  which  he  was  coming.  Nor  less 
did  they  measure  the  danger.  They  too  heard  its  warn- 
ing, the  muffled  roar  as  of  rocks  and  trees  snatched 
up  and  grinding  to  atoms  in  the  inner  coils  of  the 
cloud. 

"  It  is  not  a  blow,"  one  said,  speaking  quick,  "  but 
a» 

"  Storm." 

The  word  was  the  Prince's. 

"Yes,  my  Lord." 

Just  then  the  water  by  the  boat  was  rippled  by  a 
breath,  purring,  timorous,  but  icy. 

The  effect  on  the  oarsmen  was  stronger  than  any 
word  from  the  master  could  have  been.  They  finished 
a  pull  long  and  united;  then  while  the  oars  swung 
forward  taking  reach  for  another,  they  all  arose  to 
their  feet,  paused  a  moment,  dipped  the  blades  deeper, 
gave  vent  to  a  cry  so  continuous  it  sounded  like  a  wail, 
and  at  the  same  time  sunk  back  into  their  seats,  pulling 


203 

as  they  fell.  This  was  their  ultimate  exertion.  A  jet 
of  water  spurted  from  the  foot  of  the  sharp  bow,  and 
the  bubbles  and  oar  eddies  flew  behind  indistinguish- 
ably. 

"Well  done!"  said  the  Prince,  his  eyes  glow- 
ing. 

Thenceforward  the  men  continued  to  rise  at  the  end 
of  a  stroke,  and  fall  as  they  commenced  delivery  of 
another.  Their  action  was  quick,  steady,  machine- 
like  ;  they  gripped  the  water  deep,  and  made  no  slips ; 
with  a  thought  of  the  exhilaration  an  eagle  must  feel 
when  swooping  from  his  eyrie,  the  Prince  looked  at 
the  cloud  defiantly  as  a  challenger  might.  Each  mo- 
ment the  donjon  loomed  up  more  plainly.  He  saw 
now,  not  merely  the  windows  and  loopholes,  but  the 
joinery  of  the  stones  in  their  courses.  Suddenly  he 
beheld  another  wonder — an  army  of  men  mounted 
and  galloping  along  the  river  bank  toward  the 
Castle. 

The  array  stretched  back  into  the  woods.  In  its 
van  were  two  flags  borne  side  by  side,  one  green,  the 
other  red.  Both  were  surrounded  by  a  troop  in  bright 
armor.  No  need  for  him  to  ask  to  whom  they  be- 
longed. They  told  him  of  Mecca  and  Mahomet — on 
the  red,  he  doubted  not  seeing  the  old  Ottomanic 
symbols,  in  their  meaning  poetic,  in  their  simplicity 
beautiful  as  any  ever  appropriated  for  martial  pur- 
poses. The  riders  were  Turks.  But  why  the  green 
flag  ?  Where  it  went  somebody  more  than  the  chief 
of  a  sanjak,  more  than  the  governor  of  a  castle,  or 
even  a  province,  led  the  way. 

The  number  trailing  after  the  flags  was  scarcely  less 
mysterious.  They  were  too  many  to  be  of  the  garri- 
son ;  and  then  the  battlements  of  the  Castle  were  lined 
with  men  also  under  arms.  Not  daring  to  speak  of 


304 

this  new  apparition  lest  his  oarsmen  might  take  alarm, 
the  Prince  smiled,  thinking  of  another  party  to  the 
race — a  fourth  competitor. 

He  sought  the  opposing  boat  next.  It  had  made 
good  tune.  There  were  five  oarsmen  in  it;  and,  like 
his  own,  they  were  rising  and  falling  with  each  stroke. 
In  the  passengers'  place,  he  could  make  out  two  per- 
sons whom  he  took  to  be  women. 

A  roll  of  thunder  from  the  cloud  startled  the  crew. 
Clear,  angry,  majestic,  it  filled  the  mighty  gorge  of 
the  Bosphorus.  Under  the  sound  the  water  seemed  to 
shrink  away.  Lael  looked  out  from  her  hiding,  but 
as  quickly  drew  back,  crowding  closer  to  the  Prince. 
To  calm  her  he  said,  lightly, 

"Fear  nothing,  O  my  Gul-Bahar!  A  pretty  race 
we  are  having  with  the  cloud  yonder ;  we  are  winning, 
and  it  is  not  pleased.  There  is  no  danger." 

She  answered  by  doubling  the  folds  of  the  gown 
about  her  head. 

Steadily,  lithely,  and  with  never  an  error  the  row- 
ers drove  through  the  waves — steadily,  and  in  exact 
time,  their  cry  arose  cadencing  each  stroke.  They  did 
their  part  truly.  Well  might  the  master  cry  them, 
"  Good,  good."  But  all  the  while  the  wind  was  tug- 
ging mightily  at  its  cloudy  car ;  every  instant  the  rat- 
tle of  its  wheels  sounded  nearer.  The  trees  on  the 
hills  behind  the  Castle  were  bending  and  bowing ;  and 
not  merely  around  the  boat,  but  far  as  could  be  seen 
the  surface  of  the  ancient  channel  was  a-shirr  and  a- 
shatter  under  beating  of  advance  gusts. 

And  now  the  mouth  of  the  Sweet  Waters,  shallowed 
by  a  wide  extended  osier  bank,  came  into  view ;  and  the 
Castle  was  visible  from  base  to  upper  merlon,  the  don- 
jon, in  relief  against  the  blackened  sky,  rising  more 
ghostly  than  ever.  And  right  at  hand  were  the  flags, 


205 

and  the  riders  galloping  with  them.  And  there,  com- 
ing bravely  in,  was  the  competing  boat. 

Over  toward  Roumeli-Hissar  the  sea  birds  congre- 
gated in  noisy  flocks,  alarmed  at  the  long  line  of  foam 
the  wind  was  whisking  down  the  current.  Behind 
the  foam,  the  world  seemed  dissolving  into  spray. 

Then  the  boats  were  seen  from  the  Castle,  and  a 
company  of  soldiers  ran  out  and  down  the  bank.  A 
noise  like  the  rushing  of  a  river  sounded  directly  over- 
head. The  wind  struck  the  Castle,  and  in  the  thick  of 
the  mists  and  flying  leaves  hurled  at  it,  the  donjon  dis- 
appeared. 

"We  win,  we  win,  my  men!"  the  Prince  shouted. 
"Courage — good  spirit — brave  work — treble  wages! 
Wine  and  wassail  to-morrow ! " 

The  boat,  with  the  last  word,  shot  into  the  little 
river,  and  up  to  the  landing  of  the  Castle  just  as  the 
baffled  wind  burst  over  the  refuge.  And  simultane- 
ously the  van  of  the  army  galloped  under  the  walLs 
and  the  competing  boat  arrived. 


CHAPTER  IX 

IS    THE    WHITE    CASTLE 

THE  landing  was  in  possession  of  dark-faced,  heav- 
ily bearded  men,  with  white  turbans,  baggy  trousers, 
gray  and  gathered  at  the  ankles,  and  arms  of  every 
kind,  bows,  javelins,  and  cimeters. 

The  Prince,  stepping  from  his  boat,  recognized 
them  as  Turkish  soldiers.  He  had  hardly  time  to 
make  the  inspection,  brief  as  it  was,  before  an  offi- 
cer, distinguished  by  a  turban,  kettle-shaped  and 
elaborately  infolded,  approached  him. 

"  You  will  go  with  me  to  the  Castle,"  he  said. 

The  official's  tone  and  manner  were  imperative. 
Suppressing  his  displeasure,  the  Prince  replied,  with 
dignity: 

"  The  Governor  is  courteous.  Return  to  him  with 
my  thanks,  and  say  that  when  I  decided  to  come  on 
in  the  face  of  the  storm,  I  made  no  doubt  of  his  giv- 
ing me  shelter  until  it  would  be  safe  to  resume  my 
journey.  I  fear,  however,  his  accommodations  will 
be  overtaxed ;  and  since  the  river  is  protected  from 
the  wind,  it  would  be  more  agreeable  if  he  would 
permit  me  to  remain  here." 

The  response  betrayed  no  improvement  in  manner: 

"My  order  is  to  bring  you  to  the  Castle." 

Some  of  the  boatmen  at  this  raised  their  eyes  and 
hands  toward  heaven  ;  others  crossed  themselves 


mt 

and,  like  men  taking  leave  of  hope,  cried  out,  "  O 
Holy  Mother  of  God!" 

Yet  the  Prince  restrained  himself.  He  saw  con- 
tention would  be  useless,  and  said,  to  quiet  the  row- 
ers: "I  will  go  with  you.  The  Governor  will  be 
reasonable.  We  are  unfortunates  blown  to  his 
hands  by  a  tempest,  and  to  make  us  prisoners  under 
such  circumstances  would  be  an  abuse  of  one  of  the 
first  and  most  sacred  laws  of  the  Prophet.  The  order 
did  not  comprehend  my  men  ;  they  may  remain 
here." 

Lael  heard  all  this,  her  face  white  with  fear. 

The  conversation  was  in  the  Greek  tongue.  At 
mention  of  the  law,  the  Turk  cast  a  contemptuous 
look  at  the  Prince,  much  as  to  say,  Dog  of  an  unbe- 
liever, what  dost  thou  with  a  saying  of  the  Prophet  ? 
Then  dropping  his  eyes  to  Lael  and  the  boatmen,  he 
answered  in  disdain  of  argument  or  explanation : 

"  You — they — all  must  go." 

With  that,  he  turned  to  the  occupants  of  the  other 
boat,  and  raising  his  voice  the  better  to  be  heard,  for 
the  howling  of  the  wind  was  very  great,  he  called  to 
them: 

"Come  out." 

They  were  a  woman  in  rich  attire,  but  closely 
veiled,  and  a  companion  at  whom  he  gazed  with 
astonishment.  The  costume  of  the  latter  perplexed 
him;  indeed,  not  until  that  person,  in  obedience  to 
the  order,  erected  himself  to  his  full  stature  upon 
the  landing,  was  he  assured  of  his  sex. 

They  were  the  Princess  Irene  and  Sergius  the 
monk. 

The  conversation  between  them  in  the  Homeric 
palace  has  only  to  be  recalled  to  account  for  their 
presence.  Departing  from  Tnerapia  at  noon,  accord- 


208 

ing  to  the  custom  of  boatmen  wishing  to  pass  from 
the  upper  Bosphorus,  they  had  been  carried  obliquely 
across  toward  the  Asiatic  shore  where  the  current, 
because  of  its  greater  regularity,  is  supposed  to  facil- 
itate descent.  When  the  storm  began  to  fill  the 
space  above  Alem  Daghy,  they  were  in  the  usual 
course ;  and  then  the  question  that  had  been  put  to 
the  Prince  of  India  was  presented  to  the  Princess 
Irene.  Would  she  land  in  Asia  or  recross  to  Europe  ? 

The  general  Greek  distrust  of  the  Turks  belonged 
to  her.  From  infancy  she  had  been  horrified  with 
stories  of  women  prisoners  in  their  hands.  She  pre- 
ferred making  Roumeli-Hissar  ;  but  the  boatmen 
protested  it  was  too  late;  they  said  the  little  river 
by  the  White  Castle  was  open,  and  they  could  reach 
it  before  the  storm ;  and  trusting  in  their  better  judg- 
ment, she  submitted  to  them. 

Sergius,  on  the  landing,  pushed  the  cowl  back, 
and  was  about  to  speak,  but  the  wind  caught  his 
hair,  tossing  the  long  locks  into  tangle.  Seeing  him 
thus  in  a  manner  blinded,  the  Princess  took  up  the 
speech.  Drawing  the  veil  aside,  she  addressed  the 
officer : 

"Art  thou  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  ?  " 

"No." 

"Are  we  to  be  held  guests  or  prisoners  ?  " 

"  That  is  not  for  me  to  say." 

"Carry  thou  then  a  message  to  him  who  may  be 
the  Governor.  Tell  him  I  am  the  Princess  Irene,  by 
birth  near  akin  to  Constantino,  Emperor  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans;  that,  admitting  this  soil  is  lawfully  the 
property  of  his  master  the  Sultan,  I  have  not  invaded 
it,  but  am  here  in  search  of  temporary  refuge.  Tell 
him  if  I  go  to  his  Castle  a  prisoner,  he  must  answer 
for  the  trespass  to  my  royal  kinsman,  who  will  not 


209 

fail  to  demand  reparation ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  I  be- 
come his  guest,  it  must  be  upon  condition  that  I  shall 
be  free  to  depart  as  I  came,  with  my  friend  and  my 
people,  the  instant  the  wind  and  waves  subside. 
Yes,  and  the  further  condition,  that  he  wait  upon 
me  as  becomes  my  station,  and  personally  offer  such 
hospitality  as  his  Castle  affords.  I  shall  receive  his 
reply  here." 

The  officer,  uncouth  though  he  was,  listened  with 
astonishment  not  in  the  least  disguised ;  and  it  was 
not  merely  the  speech  which  impressed  him,  nor  yet 
the  spirit  with  which  it  was  given ;  the  spell  was  in 
the  unveiled  face.  Never  in  his  best  dream  of  the 
perfected  Moslem  Paradise  had  he  seen  loveliness  to 
compare  with  it.  He  stood  staring  at  her. 

"Go,"  she  repeated.  "There  will  be  rain  pres- 
ently." 

"  Who  am  I  to  say  thou  art  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  The  Princess  Irene,  kinswoman  of  the  Emperor 
Constantino. " 

The  officer  made  a  low  salaam  to  her,  and  walked 
hurriedly  off  to  the  Castle. 

His  soldiers  stood  in  respectful  remove  from  the 
prisoners — such  the  refugees  must  for  the  present  be 
considered — leaving  them  grouped  in  close  vicinity, 
the  Prince  and  the  monk  ashore,  the  Princess  and 
Lael  seated  in  their  boats. 

Calamity  is  a  rough  master  of  ceremonies ;  it  does 
not  take  its  victims  by  the  hand,  and  name  them  in 
words,  but  bids  them  look  to  each  other  for  help. 
And  that  was  precisely  what  the  two  parties  now 
did. 

Unsophisticated,  and  backward  through  inexperi- 
ence, Sergius  was  nevertheless  conscious  of  the  em- 
barrassing plight  of  the  Princess.  He  had  also  a 
14 


810 

man's  quick  sense  of  the  uselessness  of  resistance, 
except  in  the  way  of  protest.  To  measure  the 
stranger's  probable  influence  with  the  Turks,  he 
looked  first  at  the  Prince,  and  was  not,  it  must  be 
said,  rewarded  with  a  return  on  which  to  found  hope 
or  encouragement.  The  small,  stoop-shouldered  old 
man,  with  a  great  white  beard,  appeared  respectable 
and  well-to-do  in  his  black  velvet  cap  and  pelisse; 
his  eyes  were  very  bright,  and  his  cheeks  hectic  with 
resentment  at  the  annoyance  he  was  undergoing; 
but  that  he  could  help  out  of  the  difficulty  appeared 
absurd. 

Having  by  this  time  rescued  his  hair  from  the 
wind,  and  secured  it  under  his  cowl,  he  looked  next 
at  Lael.  His  first  thought  was  of  the  unfitness  of 
her  costume  for  an  outing  in  a  boat  under  the  quiet- 
est of  skies.  A  glance  at  the  Princess,  however, 
allayed  the  criticism ;  while  the  display  of  jewelry 
was  less  conspicuous,  her  habit  was  quite  as  rich  and 
unsubstantial.  It  dawned  upon  him  then  that  cus- 
tom had  something  to  do  with  the  attire  of  Greek 
women  thus  upon  the  water.  That  moment  Lael 
glanced  up  at  him,  and  he  saw  how  childlike  her  face 
was,  and  lovely  despite  the  anxiety  and  fear  with 
which  it  was  overcast.  He  became  interested  in  her 
at  once. 

The  monk's  judgment  of  the  little  old  man  was 
unjust.  That  master  of  subtlety  had  in  mind  run 
forward  of  the  situation,  and  was  already  providing 
for  its  consequences. 

He  shared  the  surprise  of  the  Turk  when  the  Prin- 
cess raised  her  veil.  Overhearing  then  her  message 
to  the  Governor,  delivered  in  a  manner  calm,  self- 
possessed,  courageous,  dignified,  and  withal  adroit, 
he  resolved  to  place  Lael  under  her  protection. 


Ml 

"  Princess,"  he  said,  doffing  his  cap  unmindful  of 
the  wind,  and  advancing  to  the  side  of  her  boat,  "  I 
crave  audience  of  you,  and  in  excuse  for  my  uncere- 
moniousness, plead  community  in  misfortune,  and  a 
desire  to  make  my  daughter  here  safe  as  can  be." 

She  surveyed  him  from  head  to  foot ;  then  turned 
her  eyes  toward  Lael,  sight  of  whom  speedily  exor- 
cised the  suspicion  which  for  the  instant  held  her 
hesitant. 

"  I  acknowledge  the  obligation  imposed  by  the  sit- 
uation," she  replied;  "  and  being  a  Christian  as  well 
as  a  woman,  I  cannot  without  reason  justifiable  in 
sight  of  Heaven  deny  the  help  you  ask.  But,  good 
sir,  first  tell  me  your  name  and  country. " 

"  I  am  a  Prince  of  India  exercising  a  traveller's 
privilege  of  sojourning  in  the  imperial  city. " 

"The  answer  is  well  given;  and  if  hereafter  you 
return  to  this  interview,  O  Prince,  I  beg  you  will 
not  lay  my  inquiry  to  common  curiosity." 

"  Fear  not,"  the  Prince  answered;  "  for  I  learned 
long  ago  that  in  the  laws  prescribed  for  right  doing 
prudence  is  a  primary  virtue;  and  making  present 
application  of  the  principle,  I  suggest,  if  it  please 
you  to  continue  a  discourse  which  must  be  necessa- 
rily brief,  that  we  do  so  in  some  other  tongue  than 
Greek." 

"  Be  it  in  Latin  then,"  she  said,  with  a  quick  glance 
at  the  soldiers,  and  observing  his  bow  of  acquiescence, 
continued,  ' '  Thy  reverend  beard,  O  Prince,  and  re- 
spectable appearance,  are  warranties  of  a  wisdom 
greater  than  I  can  ever  attain ;  wherefore  pray  tell 
me  how  I,  a  feeble  woman,  who  may  not  be  able  to 
release  herself  from  these  robbers,  remorseless  from 
religious  prejudice,  can  be  of  assistance  to  thy  daugh- 
ter, mow  my  younger  sister  in  affliction." 


212 

She  accompanied  the  speech  with  a  look  at  Lael  so 
kind  and  tender  it  could  not  be  misinterpreted. 

"Most  fair  and  gentle  Princess,  I  will  straight  to 
the  matter.  Out  on  the  water,  midway  this  and  the 
point  yonder,  when  too  late  for  me  to  change  direc- 
tion or  stay  my  rowers,  I  saw  a  body  of  horsemen, 
whom  I  judged  to  be  soldiers,  moving  hurriedly 
down  the  river  bank  toward  the  Castle.  A  band 
richly  caparisoned,  carrying  two  flags,  one  green, 
the  other  red,  moved  at  their  head.  The  former,  you 
may  know,  has  a  religious  signification,  and  is  sel- 
dom seen  in  the  field  except  a  person  of  high  rank 
be  present.  It  is  my  opinion,  therefore,  that  our 
arrest  has  some  reference  to  the  arrival  of  such  a 
personage.  In  confirmation  you  may  yet  hear  the 
musical  flourish  in  his  honor." 

"I  hear  drums  and  trumpets,"  she  replied,  "and 
admit  the  surmise  an  ingenious  accounting  for  an 
act  otherwise  unaccountable. " 

"Nay,  Princess,  with  respect  to  thyself  at  least, 
call  it  a  deed  intolerable,  and  loud  with  provocation." 

"  From  your  speech,  O  Prince,  I  infer  familiarity 
with  these  faithless  barbarians.  Perhaps  you  can 
make  your  knowledge  of  them  so  far  serviceable  as 
to  tell  me  the  great  man's  name. " 

"Yes,  I  have  had  somewhat  to  do  with  Turks;  yet 
I  cannot  venture  the  name,  rank  or  purpose  of  the 
newcomer.  Pursuing  the  argument,  however,  if 
my  conjecture  be  true,  then  the  message  borne  the 
Governor,  though  spirited,  and  most  happily  accord- 
ant with  your  high  degree,  will  not  accomplish 
your  release,  simply  because  the  reason  of  the  cap- 
ture in  the  first  place  must  remain  a  reason  for 
detaining  you  in  the  next.  In  brief,  you  may  antic- 
ipate rejection  of  the  protest." 


213 

"  What,  think  you  they  will  hold  me  prisoner  ? " 

"They  are  crafty." 

"  They  dare  not ! "  and  the  Princess'  cheek  reddened 
with  indignation.  ' '  My  kinsman  is  not  powerless — 
and  even  the  great  Amurath  "  — 

"  Forgive  me,  I  pray;  but  there  was  never  mantle 
to  cover  so  many  crimes  as  the  conveniences  kings 
call  'reasons  of  state.'  " 

She  looked  vaguely  up  the  river  which  the  tempest 
was  covering  with  promiscuous  air-blown  drifting; 
but  recovering,  she  said:  "It  is  for  me  to  pray  par- 
don, Prince.  I  detain  you. " 

"Not  at  all,"  he  answered.  "I  have  to  remark 
next,  if  my  conjecture  prove  correct,  a  lady  of  im- 
perial rank  might  find  herself  ill  at  ease  and  solitary 
in  a  hold  like  this  Castle,  which,  speaking  by  report, 
is  now  kept  to  serve  some  design  of  war  to  come 
more  particularly  than  domestic  or  social  life." 

The  imagination  of  the  Princess  caught  the  idea 
eagerly,  and,  becoming  active,  presented  a  picture 
of  a  Moslem  lair  without  women  or  apartments  for 
women.  Her  mind  filled  with  alarm. 

"Oh,  that  I  could  recall  the  message!"  she  ex- 
claimed. "I  should  not  have  tempted  the  Governor 
by  offering  to  become  his  guest  upon  any  condition. " 

"Nay,  do  not  accuse  yourself.  The  decision  was 
brave  and  excellent  in  every  view, "  he  said,  perceiv- 
ing his  purpose  in  such  fair  way.  "For  see — the 
storm  increases  in  strength;  yonder" — he  pointed 
toward  Alem  Daghy — "  the  rain  comes.  Not  by  thy 
choice,  O  Princess,  but  the  will  of  God,  thou  art 
here!" 

He  spoke  impressively,  and  she  bent  her  head,  and 
crossed  herself  twice. 

"A   sad  plight  truly,"  he  continued.      "Fortu- 


214 

nately  it  may  be  in  a  measure  relieved.  Here  is  my 
daughter,  Lael  by  name.  The  years  have  scarcely 
outrun  her  childhood.  More  at  mercy  than  thyself, 
because  without  rank  to  make  the  oppressor  careful, 
or  an  imperial  kinsman  to  revenge  a  wrong  done 
her,  she  is  subject  to  whatever  threatens  you — a  cell 
in  this  infidel  stronghold,  ruffians  for  attendants, 
discomforts  to  cast  her  into  fever,  separation  from 
me  to  keep  her  afraid.  Why  not  suffer  her  to  go 
with  you  ?  She  can  serve  as  tirewoman  or  com- 
panion. In  villany  the  boldest  often  hesitate  when 
two  are  to  be  overcome." 

The  speech  was  effective. 

"  O  Prince,  I  have  not  words  to  express  my  grati- 
tude. I  am  thy  debtor.  Heaven  may  have  brought 
this  crisis,  but  it  has  not  altogether  deserted  me — 
And  in  good  time!  See — my  messenger,  with  a 
following !  Let  thy  daughter  come,  and  sit  with  me 
now — and  do  thou  stand  by  to  lend  me  of  thy  wis- 
dom in  case  appeal  to  it  become  necessary.  Quick  I 
Nay,  Prince,  Sergius  is  young  and  strong.  Permit 
him  to  bring  the  child  to  me." 

The  monk  made  haste.  Drawing  the  boat  close  to 
the  shore,  he  gave  Lael  his  strong  hand.  Directly 
she  was  delivered  to  the  Princess,  and  seated  beside 
her. 

"Now  they  may  come!" 

Thus  the  Princess  acknowledged  the  strength  deriv- 
able from  companionship.  The  result  was  percepti- 
ble in  her  voice  once  more  clear,  and  her  face  act- 
ually sparkling  with  confidence  and  courage. 

Then,  drawn  together  in  one  group,  the  refugees 
awaited  the  officer. 

' '  The  Governor  is  coming, "  that  worthy  said,  salut- 
ing the  Princess. 


215 

Looking  toward  the  Castle,  the  expectants  beheld 
a  score  or  more  men  issuing  from  the  gate  on  foot. 
They  were  all  in  armor,  and  each  complemented  the 
buckler  on  his  arm  with  a  lance  from  which  a  col- 
ored pennon  blew  out  straight  and  stiff  as  a  panel. 
One  walked  in  front  singly,  and  immediately  the 
Prince  and  Princess  fixed  upon  him  as  the  Governor, 
and  kept  him  in  eye  curiously  and  anxiously. 

That  instant  rain  in  large  drops  began  to  fall. 
The  Governor  appeared  to  notice  the  premonition, 
for  looking  at  the  angry  sky  he  halted,  and  beck- 
oned to  his  followers,  several  of  whom  ran  to  him, 
received  an  order,  and  then  hastily  returned  to  the 
Castle.  He  came  on  in  quickened  gait. 

Here  the  Prince,  with  his  greater  experience,  no- 
ticed a  point  which  escaped  his  associates ;  and  that 
was  the  extraordinary  homage  paid  the  stranger. 

At  the  landing  the  officer  and  soldiers  would  have 
prostrated  themselves,  but  with  an  imperious  gesture, 
he  declined  the  salutation. 

The  observers,  it  may  be  well  believed,  viewed  the 
man  afar  with  interest;  when  near,  they  scanned 
him  as  persons  under  arraignment  study  the  judge, 
that  from  his  appearance  they  may  glean  something 
of  his  disposition.  He  was  above  the  average  height 
of  men,  slender,  and  in  armor — the  armor  of  the 
East,  adapted  in  every  point  to  climate  and  light  ser- 
vice. A  cope  or  hood,  intricately  woven  of  delicate 
steel  wire,  and  close  enough  to  refuse  an  arrow  or 
the  point  of  a  dagger,  defended  head,  throat,  neck, 
and  shoulders,  while  open  at  the  face ;  a  coat,  of  the 
same  artistic  mail,  beginning  under  the  hood,  fol- 
lowed closely  the  contour  of  the  body,  terminating 
just  above  the  knees  as  a  skirt.  Amongst  Teutonic 
and  English  knights,  on  account  of  its  comparative 


216 

lightness,  it  would  have  been  distinguished  from  an 
old-fashioned  hauberk,  and  called  haubergeon.  A 
sleeveless  surcoat  of  velvet,  plain  green  in  color, 
overlaid  the  mail  without  a  crease  or  wrinkle,  except 
at  the  edge  of  the  skirt.  Chausses,  or  leggins,  also 
of  steel,  clothed  the  nether  limbs,  ending  in  shoes  of 
thin  lateral  scales  sharply  pointed  at  the  toes.  A 
slight  convexity  on  top,  and  the  bright  gold-gilt  band 
by  which,  with  regular  interlacement,  the  cope  was 
attached,  gave  the  cap  surmounting  the  head  a  like- 
ness to  a  crown. 

In  style  this  armor  was  common.  The  preference 
Eastern  cavaliers  showed  it  may  have  been  due  in 
part  at  least  to  the  fact  that  when  turned  out  by  a 
master  armorer,  after  years  of  painstaking,  it  left 
the  wearer  his  natural  graces  of  person.  Such  cer- 
tainly was  the  case  here. 

The  further  equipment  of  the  man  admits  easy 
imagining.  There  were  the  gauntlets  of  steel,  artic- 
ulated for  the  fingers  and  thumbs;  a  broad  flexible 
belt  of  burnished  gold  scales,  intended  for  the  cime- 
ter,  fell  from  the  waist  diagonally  to  the  left  hip; 
light  spurs  graced  the  heels;  a  dagger,  sparkling  with 
jewels,  was  his  sole  weapon,  and  it  served  principally 
to  denote  the  peacefulness  of  his  errand.  As  there 
was  nothing  about  him  to  rattle  or  clank  his  steps 
were  noiseless,  and  his  movements  agile  and  easy. 

These  martial  points  were  naturally  of  chief  at- 
traction to  the  Prince  of  India,  whose  vast  acquaint- 
anceship with  heroes  and  famous  warriors  made 
comparison  a  habit.  On  her  side,  the  Princess,  to 
whom  accoutrement  and  manner  were  mere  acces- 
sories, pleasing  or  otherwise,  and  subordinate,  sought 
the  stranger's  face.  She  saw  brown  eyes,  not  very 
large,  but  exceedingly  bright,  quick,  sharp,  flying 


217 

from  object  to  object  with  flashes  of  bold  inquiry, 
and  quitting  them  as  instantly ;  a  round  forehead  on 
brows  high-arched;  a  nose  with  the  curvature  of 
a  Roman's;  mouth  deep-cornered,  full-lipped,  and 
somewhat  imperfectly  mustached  and  bearded ;  clear, 
though  sunburned  complexion — in  brief,  a  counte- 
nance haughty,  handsome,  refined,  imperious,  telling 
in  every  line  of  exceptional  birth,  royal  usages,  am- 
bition, courage,  passion,  and  confidence.  Most 
amazing,  however,  the  stranger  appeared  yet  a 
youth.  Surprised,  hardly  knowing  whether  to  be 
pleased  or  alarmed,  yet  attracted,  she  kept  the  face 
in  steady  gaze. 

Halting  when  a  few  steps  from  the  group,  the 
stranger  looked  at  them  as  if  seeking  one  in  especial. 

"Have  a  care,  O  Princess!  This  is  not  the  Gov- 
ernor, but  he  of  whom  I  spoke — the  great  man." 

The  warning  was  from  the  Prince  of  India  and  in 
Latin.  As  if  to  thank  him  for  a  service  done — pos- 
sibly for  identifying  the  person  he  sought — the  sub- 
ject of  the  warning  slightly  bowed  to  him,  then 
dropped  his  eyes  to  the  Princess.  A  light  blown  out 
does  not  vanish  more  instantly  than  his  expression 
changed.  Wonder — incredulity — astonishment — ad- 
miration chased  each  other  over  his  face  in  succession. 
Calling  them  emotions,  each  declared  itself  with 
absolute  distinctness,  and  the  one  last  to  come  was 
most  decided  and  enduring.  Thus  he  met  her  gaze, 
and  so  ardent,  intense  and  continuous  was  his,  that 
she  reddened  cheek  and  forehead,  and  drew  down 
the  veil ;  but  not,  it  should  be  understood,  resentfully. 

The  disappearance  of  the  countenance,  in  effect  like 
the  sudden  extinguishment  of  a  splendor,  aroused 
him.    Advancing  a  step,  he  said  to  her,  with  lowered 
head  and  perceptible  embarrassment : 
is 


218 

"I  come  to  offer  hospitality  to  the  kinswoman  of 
the  Emperor  Constantino.  The  storm  shows  no  sign 
of  abatement,  and  until  it  does,  my  Castle  yonder  is 
at  her  order.  While  not  sumptuous  in  appointment 
as  her  own  palace,  fortunately  there  are  comfortable 
apartments  in  it  where  she  can  rest  securely  and  with 
reserve.  The  invitation  I  presume  to  make  in  the 
name  of  my  most  exalted  master  Sultan  Amurath, 
who  takes  delight  in  the  amity  existing  between  him 
and  the  Lord  of  Byzantium.  To  lay  all  fear,  to  dis- 
pel hesitation,  in  his  name  again,  together  with  such 
earnest  of  good  faith  as  lies  in  an  appeal  to  the  most 
holy  Prophet  of  God,  I  swear  the  Princess  Irene  shall 
be  safe  from  interruption  while  in  the  Castle,  and 
free  to  depart  from  it  at  her  pleasure.  If  she  chooses, 
this  tender  of  courtesy  may,  by  agreement,  here  in 
the  presence  of  these  witnesses,  be  taken  as  an  affair 
of  state.  I  await  her  answer." 

The  Prince  of  India  heard  the  speech  more  as- 
tonished by  the  unexceptional  Latin  in  which  it  was 
couched  than  the  propriety  of  the  matter  or  the  grace 
of  its  delivery,  though,  he  was  constrained  to  admit, 
both  were  very  great.  He  also  understood  the  mean- 
ing of  the  look  the  stranger  had  given  him  at  the 
conclusion  of  his  warning  to  the  Princess,  and  to 
conceal  his  vexation,  he  turned  to  her. 

That  moment  two  covered  chairs,  brought  from  the 
Castle,  were  set  down  near  by,  and  the  rain  began  to 
fall  in  earnest. 

"See,"  said  the  Governor,  "the  evidence  of  my 
care  for  the  comfort  of  the  kinswoman  of  the  most 
noble  Emperor  Constantine.  I  feared  it  would  rain 
before  I  could  present  myself  to  her;  nor  that  alone, 
fair  Princess — the  chair  must  convict  me  of  a  whole- 
some dread  of  accusation  in  Constantinople ;  for  what 


219 

worse  could  be  said  than  that  I,  a  faithful  Moslem, 
to  whom  hospitality  is  an  ordination  of  religion,  re- 
fused to  open  my  gates  to  women  in  distress  because 
they  were  Christians.  Most  noble  and  fair  lady,  be- 
hold how  much  I  should  esteem  acceptance  of  my 
invitation !  " 

Irene  looked  at  the  Prince  of  India,  and  seeing 
assent  in  his  face,  answered : 

"  I  will  ask  leave  to  report  this  courtesy  as  an  affair 
of  state  that  my  royal  kinsman  may  acknowledge  it 
becomingly." 

The  Governor  bowed  very  low  while  saying : 
"  I  myself  should  have  suggested  the  course." 
"  Also  that  my  friends  " — she  pointed  to  the  Prince 
of  India,  and  the  monk — "and  all  the  boatmen,  be 
included  in  the  safeguard." 

This  was  also  agreed  to ;  whereupon  she  arose,  and 
for  assistance  offered  her  hand  to  Sergius.  Lael  was 
next  helped  from  the  boat.  Then,  taking  to  the 
chairs,  the  two  were  carried  into  the  Castle,  followed 
by  the  Prince  and  the  monk  afoot. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ARABIAN   STORY-TELLER 

THE  reader  will  doubtless  refer  the  circumstance  to 
the  jealousy  which  is  supposed  to  prompt  the  Faith- 
ful where  women  are  required  to  pass  before  men ; 
yet  the  best  evidence  of  the  Governor's  thoughtful- 
ness  for  his  female  guests  met  them  at  their  approach 
to  the  Castle.  There  was  not  a  man  visible  except  a 
sentinel  on  the  battlement  above  the  gate,  and  he 
stood  faced  inwardly,  making  it  impossible  for  him 
to  see  them  when  they  drew  near. 

"Where  are  the  horsemen  of  whom  you  spoke? 
And  the  garrison,  where  are  they  ? "  Sergius  asked 
the  Prince. 

The  latter  shrugged  his  shoulders,  as  he  answered: 

"  They  will  return  presently." 

Further  proof  of  the  same  thoughtfulness  was 
presented  when  the  two  chairs  were  set  down  in  the 
broad  stone-paved  passage  receiving  from  the  front 
door.  The  sole  occupant  there  was  a  man,  tall  as 
the  monk,  but  unnaturally  slender ;  indeed,  his  legs 
resembled  those  of  a  lay  figure,  so  thin  were  they, 
while  the  residue  of  his  person,  although  clad  in  a 
burnoose  gorgeously  embroidered,  would  have  re- 
minded a  modern  of  the  skeletons  surgeons  keep  for 
office  furniture.  Besides  blackness  deep  as  the  un- 
lighted  corner  of  a  cellar,  he  had  no  beard.  The 
Prince  of  India  recognized  him  as  one  of  the  iudis- 


221 

pensables  of  an  Eastern  harem,  and  made  ready  to 
obey  him  without  dissent — only  the  extravagance  of 
the  broidery  on  the  burnoose  confirmed  him  in  the 
opinion  that  the  chief  just  arrived  outranked  the 
Governor.  "This  is  the  Kislar  Aga  of  a  Prince," 
he  said  to  himself. 

The  eunuch,  like  one  accustomed  to  the  duty, 
superintended  the  placement  of  the  chairs;  then,  rest- 
ing the  point  of  a  very  bright  crescent-shaped  sword 
on  the  floor,  he  said,  in  a  voice  more  incisive  than 
the  ordinary  feminine  tenor : 

"I  will  now  conduct  the  ladies,  and  guard  them. 
No  one  will  presume  to  follow." 

The  Prince  replied:  "It  is  well;  but  they  will  be 
comforted  if  permitted  to  abide  together." 

He  spoke  with  deference,  and  the  black  responded : 

"This  is  a  fort,  not  a  palace.  There  is  but  one 
chamber  for  the  two." 

"And  if  I  wish  to  communicate  with  them  or  they 
with  me  ? " 

' '  Bismillah  I "  the  eunuch  replied.  ' '  They  are  not 
prisoners.  I  will  deliver  what  thou  hast  for  them  or 
they  for  thee." 

Thereupon  the  Princess  and  Lael  stepped  from  the 
chairs,  and  went  with  their  guide.  When  they  were 
gone,  word  sped  through  the  Castle,  and  with  clamor 
and  clangor,  doors  opened,  and  men  poured  forth  in 
companies.  And  again  the  Prince  reflected :  ' '  Such 
discipline  pertains  to  princes  only." 

Now  the  office  of  eunuch  was  by  no  means  an 
exclusive  pagan  institution;  time  out  of  mind  it  had 
been  a  feature  of  Byzantine  courts ;  and  Constantino 
Dragases,  the  last,  and  probably  the  most  Christian 
of  Greek  emperors,  not  only  tolerated,  but  recog- 
nized it  as  honorable.  With  this  explanation  the 


222 

reader  ought  not  to  be  surprised  if  the  Princess 
Irene  accepted  the  guidance  offered  her  without  fear 
or  even  hesitation.  Doubtless  she  had  been  in  similar 
keeping  many  times. 

Climbing  a  number  of  stairways,  the  eunuch 
brought  his  fair  charges  into  a  part  of  the  Castle 
where  there  were  signs  of  refinement.  The  floors 
were  swept ;  the  doors  garnished  with  rugs ;  a  deli- 
cate incense  lingered  in  the  air ;  and  to  rescue  the 
tenants,  whoever  they  might  be,  from  darkness, 
lighted  lamps  swung  from  the  ceiling,  and  were 
affixed  to  the  walls.  Stopping  finally  before  a  porti- 
ere, he  held  it  aside  while  saying : 

"Enter  here,  and  be  at  home.  Upon  the  table 
yonder  there  is  a  little  bell;  ring,  and  I  will  answer." 

And  seeing  Lael  clinging  closely  to  the  Princess, 
he  added :  "Be  not  afraid.  Know  ye  rather  that  my 
master,  when  a  child,  heard  the  story  of  Hatim,  a 
warrior  and  poet  of  the  Arabs,  and  ever  since  he  has 
lived  believing  hospitality  a  virtue  without  which 
there  can  be  no  godliness.  Do  not  forget  the  bell." 

They  entered  and  were  alone. 

To  their  amazement  the  room  was  more  than  com- 
fortably furnished.  What  may  be  termed  a  chan- 
delier swung  from  the  ceiling  with  many  lamps 
ready  for  lighting;  under  it  there  was  a  circular 
divan ;  then  along  the  four  sides  a  divan  extended 
continuously,  with  pillows  at  the  corners  in  heaps. 
Matting  covered  the  floor,  and  here  and  there  rugs 
of  gay  dyes  offered  noticeable  degrees  of  warmth  and 
coloring.  Large  trays  filled  the  deep  recesses  of  the 
windows,  and  though  the  smell  of  musk  overpowered 
the  sweet  outgivings  of  the  roses  blooming  in  them, 
they  sufficed  to  rouge  the  daylight  somewhat  scantily 
admitted.  The  roughness  and  chill  of  the  walls  were 


238 

provided  against  by  woollen  drapery  answering  for 
arras. 

They  went  first  to  one  of  the  windows,  and  peered 
out.  Below  them  the  world  was  being  deluged  with 
fiercely  driven  rain.  There  was  the  Bosphorus 
lashed  into  waves  already  whitened  with  foam. 
The  European  shore  was  utterly  curtained  from 
sight.  Gust  after  gust  raved  around  the  Castle, 
whistling  and  moaning ;  and  as  she  beheld  the  dan- 
ger escaped,  the  Princess  thought  of  the  saying  of 
the  Prince  of  India  and  repeated  it  in  a  spirit  of 
thanksgiving:  "  By  the  will  of  God  thou  art  here." 

The  reflection  reconciled  her  to  the  situation,  and 
led  on  till  presently  the  face  and  martial  figure  of 
the  Governor  reproduced  themselves  to  her  fancy. 
How  handsome  he  appeared — how  courteous — how 
young! — scarcely  older  than  herself!  How  readily 
she  had  yielded  to  his  invitation !  She  blushed  at 
the  thought. 

Lael  interrupted  the  revery,  which  was  not  with- 
out charm,  and  for  that  reason  would  likely  return, 
by  bringing  her  a  child's  slipper  found  near  the  cen- 
tral divan;  and  while  examining  the  embroidery 
of  many-colored  beads  adorning  it,  she  divined  the 
truth. 

Isolated  as  the  Castle  was  on  a  frontier  of  the 
Islamic  world,  and  crowded  with  men  and  material 
of  war,  yet  the  Governor  was  permitted  his  harem, 
and  this  was  its  room  in  common.  Here  his  wives, 
many  or  few,  for  the  time  banished  to  some  other 
quarters,  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  scant  pleasantries  afforded  by  life  like 
theirs. 

Again  she  was  interrupted.  The  arras  over  one  of 
the  walls  was  pushed  aside,  and  two  women  came  in 


224 

with  refreshments.  A  third  followed  with  a  small 
table  of  Turkish  pattern  which  she  placed  on  the 
floor.  The  viands,  very  light  and  simple,  were  set 
upon  the  table ;  then  a  fourth  one  came  bringing  an 
armful  of  shawls  and  wraps.  The  last  was  a  Greek, 
and  she  explained  that  the  Lord  of  the  Castle,  her 
master,  was  pleased  to  make  his  guests  comfortable. 
In  the  evening  later  a  more  substantial  repast  would 
be  served.  Meantime  she  was  appointed  to  wait  on 
them. 

The  guests,  assured  by  the  presence  of  other  women 
in  the  Castle,  partook  of  the  refection;  after  which 
the  table  was  removed,  and  the  attendants  for  the 
present  dismissed.  Wrapping  themselves  then  in 
shawls,  for  they  had  not  altogether  escaped  the  rain, 
and  were  beginning  to  feel  the  mists  stealing  into 
the  chamber  through  the  unglazed  windows,  they 
took  to  the  divan,  piling  the  cushions  about  them 
defensively. 

In  this  condition,  comfortable,  cosey,  perfectly  at 
rest,  and  with  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  sensations 
common  to  every  one  in  the  midst  of  a  novel  adven- 
ture, the  Princess  proceeded  to  draw  from  Lael  an 
account  of  herself;  and  the  ingenuousness  of  the 
girl  proved  very  charming,  coupled  as  it  was  with  a 
most  unexpected  intelligence.  The  case  was  the  not 
unusual  one  of  education  wholly  unsupported  by 
experience.  The  real  marvel  to  the  inquisitor  was 
that  she  should  have  made  discovery  of  two  such 
instances  the  same  day,  and  been  thrown  into  curi- 
ous relation  with  them.  And  as  women  always  run 
parallels  between  persons  who  interest  them,  the 
Princess  was  struck  with  the  similarities  between 
Sergius  and  Lael.  They  were  both  young,  both 
handsome,  both  unusually  well  informed  and  at  the 


same  time  singularly  unsophisticated.  In  the  old 
pagan  style,  what  did  Fate  mean  by  thus  bringing 
them  together  ?  She  determined  to  keep  watch  of  the 
event. 

And  when,  in  course  of  her  account,  Lael  spoke  of 
the  Prince  of  India,  Irene  awoke  at  once  to  a  mys- 
tery connected  with  him.  Lacking  the  full  story, 
the  narrator  could  give  just  enough  of  it  to  stimulate 
wonder.  Who  was  he  ?  Where  was  Cipango  ?  He 
was  rich — learned — knew  all  the  sciences,  all  the 
languages — he  had  visited  countries  everywhere, 
even  the  inhabited  islands.  To  be  sure,  he  had  not 
appeared  remarkable;  indeed,  she  gave  him  small 
attention  when  he  was  before  her ;  she  recalled  him 
chiefly  by  his  eyes  and  velvet  pelisse.  While  she 
was  mentally  resolving  to  make  better  study  of  him, 
the  eunuch  appeared  under  the  portiere,  and,  com- 
ing forward,  said,  with  a  half  salaam  to  the  Princess : 

"  My  master  does  not  wish  his  guests  to  think 
themselves  forgotten.  The  kinswoman  of  the  most 
august  Emperor  Constantino,  he  remembers,  is  with- 
out employment  to  lighten  the  passage  of  a  time 
which  must  be  irksome  to  her.  He  humbly  prays 
her  to  accept  his  sympathy,  and  sends  me  to  say 
that  a  famous  story-teller,  going  to  the  court  of  the 
Sultan  at  Adrianople,  arrived  at  the  Castle  to-day. 
Would  the  Princess  be  pleased  to  hear  him  ? " 

"  In  what  tongue  does  he  recite  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Arabic,  Turkish,  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,"  was  the 
reply. 

' '  Oh,  a  most  wise  man !  " 

Irene  consulted  Lael,  and  thinking  to  offer  her 
amusement,  assented  to  the  suggestion,  with  thanks 
to  the  Governor. 

"  Have  the  veils  ready,"  the  eunuch  said,  as  he  re- 
16 


226 

treated  backward  to  the  door.  "  The  story-teller  is  a 
man,  and  he  will  come  directly." 

The  story-teller  was  ushered  in.  He  walked  to  the 
divan  where  his  auditors  sat,  slowly,  as  if  he  knew 
himself  under  close  observation,  and  courted  it. 

Now  caravans  were  daily  shows  in  Constantinople. 
The  little  bell  of  the  donkey  leading  its  string  of 
laden  camels  through  the  narrow  streets  might  be 
heard  any  hour,  and  the  Shaykh  in  charge  was  al- 
most invariably  an  Arab.  So  the  Princess  had  seen 
many  of  the  desert-born,  and  was  familiar  with  their 
peculiarities ;  never,  however,  had  chance  brought  a 
nobler  specimen  of  the  race  before  her.  As  he  ap- 
proached, stepping  as  modern  stage  heroes  are  wont, 
she  saw  the  red  slippers,  the  white  shirt  falling  to 
the  ankles  and  girdled  at  the  waist,  its  bosom  a  ca- 
pacious pocket,  the  white  and  red  striped  cloak  over 
the  shoulders.  She  marked  the  material  of  which 
they  were  made,  the  shirt  of  selected  Angora  wool, 
the  cloak  of  camel's  hair,  in  its  fineness  iridescent 
and  soft  as  velvet.  She  saw  in  the  girdle  an  empty 
scabbard  for  a  yatagan  elaborately  covered  with  bril- 
liants. She  saw  on  the  head  a  kerchief  of  mixed  silk 
and  cotton,  tasselled,  heavily  striated  red  and  yellow, 
and  secured  by  the  usual  cord ;  but  she  scarcely  more 
than  noticed  them — the  air  of  the  man,  high,  stately, 
king-like,  was  a  superior  attraction,  and  she  gazed  at 
his  face  unconscious  that  her  own  was  uncovered. 

The  features  were  regular,  the  complexion  sun- 
burned to  the  hue  of  reddish  copper,  the  beard  thin, 
the  nose  sharp,  the  cheeks  hollow,  the  eyes,  through 
the  double  shade  of  brows  and  kerchief,  glittered 
like  balls  of  polished  black  amber.  His  hands  were 
crossed  above  the  girdle  after  the  manner  of  Eastern 
servants  before  acknowledged  superiors;  his  saluta- 


287 

tion  was  expressive  of  most  abject  homage ;  yet  when 
he  raised  himself,  and  met  the  glance  of  the  Princess, 
his  eyes  lingered,  and  brightened,  and  directly  he 
cast  off  or  forgot  his  humility,  and  looked  lordlier 
than  an  Emir  boasting  of  his  thousand  tents,  with 
ten  spears  to  each,  and  a  score  of  camels  to  the 
spear.  She  endured  the  gaze  awhile ;  for  it  seemed 
she  had  seen  the  face  before — where,  she  could  not 
tell ;  and  when,  as  presently  happened,  she  began  to 
feel  the  brightness  of  the  eyes  intenser  growing,  the 
sensation  reminded  her  of  the  Governor  at  the  land- 
ing. Could  this  be  he  ?  No,  the  countenance  here 
was  of  a  man  already  advanced  in  life.  And  why 
should  the  Governor  resort  to  disguise  ?  The  end, 
nevertheless,  was  the  same  as  on  the  landing — she 
drew  down  the  veil.  Then  he  became  humble 
again,  and  spoke,  his  eyes  downcast,  his  hands 
crossed : 

"This  faithful  servant" — he  pointed  to  the  eunuch 
"  my  friend  " — the  eunuch  crossed  his  hands,  and  as- 
sumed an  attitude  of  pleased  attention — "brought  me 
from  his  master — may  the  most  Merciful  and  Com- 
passionate continue  a  pillow  to  the  good  man  here 
and  to  his  soul  hereafter ! — how  a  kinswoman  of  the 
Emperor  whose  capital  is  to  the  earth  a  star,  and  he 
as  the  brightness  thereof,  had  taken  refuge  with  him 
from  the  storm,  and  was  now  his  guest,  and  lan- 
guishing for  want  of  amusement.  Would  I  tell  her 
a  story  ?  I  have  a  horde  of  parables,  tales,  and  tra- 
ditions, and  many  nations  have  contributed  to  it; 
but,  alas,  O  Princess !  they  are  simple,  and  such  as 
beguile  tentmen  and  tentwomen  shut  in  by  the  des- 
ert, their  fancies  tender  as  children's.  I  fear  your 
laughter.  But  here  I  am  ;  and  as  the  night  bird 
sings  when  the  moon  is  risen,  because  the  moon  is 


238 

beautiful  and  must  be  saluted,  even  so  I  am  obedient. 
Command  me. " 

The  speech  was  in  Greek,  with  the  slightest  imper- 
fection of  accent ;  at  the  conclusion  the  Princess  was 
silent. 

"  Knowest  thou  " — she  at  length  said — "  knowest 
thou  of  one  Hatim,  renowned  as  a  warrior  and  poet 
of  the  Arabs  ? " 

The  eunuch  saw  the  reference,  and  smiled.  Ask- 
ing of  Hatim  now  was  only  another  form  of  inquiry 
after  his  master;  not  merely  had  the  latter  been  in 
her  mind ;  she  wished  to  know  more  about  him.  On 
his  part,  the  story-teller  arose  from  his  servile  post- 
ure, and  asked  with  the  animation  of  one  to  whom  a 
favorite  theme  is  presented : 

"Noble  lady,  know  you  aught  of  the  desert  ? " 

"  I  have  never  been  there,"  the  Princess  answered. 

' '  Though  not  beautiful,  it  is  the  home  of  mysteries," 
he  said,  with  growing  enthusiasm.  ' '  When  he  whom 
in  the  same  breath  you  worship  as  God  and  the  Son 
of  God — an  opposition  beyond  the  depth  of  our  simple 
faith — made  ready  to  proclaim  himself,  he  went  for 
a  time  into  the  Wilderness,  and  dwelt  there.  So  like- 
wise our  Prophet,  seeing  the  dawn  of  his  day,  betook 
himself  to  Hiva,  a  rock,  bleak,  barren,  waterless. 
Why,  O  Princess,  if  not  for  purification,  and  because 
God  of  preference  has  founded  his  dwelling  there, 
wasting  it  indeed  the  better  to  nurse  his  goodness  in 
a  perfected  solitude  ?  Granting  this,  why  may  I  not 
assert  without  shocking  you  that  the  sons  of  the 
desert  are  the  noblest  of  men  ? — 

"  Such  was  Hatim ! 

"  In  the  Hijaz  and  the  Nejd,  they  tell  of  him  thus: 

"In  the  day  the  Compassionate  set  about  world- 
making,  which  is  but  a  pastime  with  him,  nor  nearly 


so  much  as  nest-building  to  a  mother-dove,  he  rested. 
The  mountains  and  rivers  and  seas  were  in  their  beds, 
and  the  land  was  variegated  to  please  him,  here  a 
forest,  there  a  grassy  plain;  nothing  remained  un- 
finished except  the  sand  oceans,  and  they  only  want- 
ed water.  He  rested. 

"  Now,  if,  with  their  sky,  a  sun-field  in  the  day,  a 
gallery  of  stars  at  night,  and  their  winds,  flying  from 
sea  to  sea,  but  gathering  no  taint,  the  deserts  are  tree- 
less, and  unknowing  the  sweetness  of  gardens  and 
the  glory  of  grass,  it  was  not  by  accident  or  forget- 
f ulness ;  for  with  him,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merci- 
ful, there  are  no  accidents  or  lapses  of  any  kind.  He 
is  all  attention  and  ever  present.  Thus  the  Throne 
verse — '  Drowsiness  overcomes  him  not  nor  sleep. 
.  .  .  His  firmament  spans  the  Heaven  and  the 
Earth,  and  the  care  of  them  does  not  distress  him.' 

"Why  then  the  yellowness  and  the  burning,  the 
sameness  and  solitude,  and  the  earth  intolerant  of 
rain  and  running  stream,  and  of  roads  and  paths — 
why,  if  there  was  neither  accident  nor  forgetful- 
ness  ? 

"  He  is  the  High  and  the  Great !    Accuse  him  not ! 

"  In  that  moment  of  rest,  not  from  weariness  or 
overburden,  but  to  approve  the  work  done,  and  re- 
cord the  approval  as  a  judgment,  he  said,  speaking 
to  his  Almightiness  as  to  a  familiar :  '  As  it  is  it  shall 
stay.  A  time  will  come  when  with  men  I,  and  the 
very  name  of  me,  shall  go  out  utterly  like  the  green 
of  last  year's  leaf.  He  who  walks  in  a  garden  thinks 
of  it  only;  but  he  who  abides  in  a  desert,  wanting  to 
see  the  beautiful,  must  look  into  the  sky,  and  looking 
there  he  shall  be  reminded  of  me,  and  say  aloud  and  as 
a  lover,  '  There  is  no  God  but  him,  the  Compassion- 
ate, the  Merciful.  .  .  .  The  eyes  see  him  not,  but 


230 

he  seeth  the  eyes ;  and  He  is  the  Gracious,  the  Know- 
ing.' ...  So  also  comes  a  time  when  religion  shall 
be  without  heart,  dead,  and  the  quickening  of  wor- 
ship lost  in  idolatry ;  when  men  shall  cry,  God,  my 
God,  to  stones  and  graven  images,  and  sing  to  hear 
their  singing,  and  the  loud  music  it  goes  with.  And 
that  time  shall  be  first  in  lands  of  growth  and  fresh* 
ness,  in  cities  where  comforts  and  luxuries  are  as 
honey  in  hives  after  the  flowering  of  palms.  Where- 
fore— Lo,  the  need  of  deserts.  There  I  shall  never 
be  forgotten.  And  out  of  them,  out  of  their  hardness 
and  heat,  out  of  their  yellow  distances  and  drouth, 
religion  shall  arise  again,  and  go  forth  purified  unto 
universality ;  for  I  shall  be  always  present  there,  a 
life-giver.  And  against  those  days  of  evil,  I  shall 
keep  men  there,  the  best  of  their  kind,  and  their  good 
qualities  shall  not  rust;  they  shall  be  brave,  for  I 
may  want  swords ;  they  shall  keep  the  given  word, 
for  as  I  am  the  Truth,  so  shall  my  chosen  be ;  there 
shall  be  no  end  to  charity  among  them,  for  in  suck 
lands  charity  is  life,  and  must  take  every  form,  friend- 
ship, love  of  one  another,  love  of  giving,  and  hospi- 
tality, unto  which  are  riches  and  plenty.  And  in 
their  worship,  I  shall  be  first,  and  honor  next.  And 
as  Truth  is  the  Soul  of  the  World,  it  being  but  another 
of  my  names,  for  its  salvation  they  shall  speak  with 
tongues  of  fire,  this  one  an  orator,  that  one  a  poet; 
and  living  in  the  midst  of  death,  they  shall  fear  me 
not  at  all,  but  dishonor  more.  Mine  are  the  Sons  of 
the  Desert — the  Word-Keepers! — the  Un conquered 
and  Conquerless!  For  my  name's  sake,  I  nominate 
them  Mine,  and  I  alone  am  the  High  and  the  Great. 
.  .  .  And  there  shall  be  amongst  them  exemplars 
of  this  virtue  and  that  one  singly;  and  at  intervals 
through  the  centuries  standards  for  emulation  among 


831 

the  many,  a  few,  in  whom  all  the  excellences  shall 
be  blent  in  indivisible  comeliness.1 

"So  came  Hatim,  of  the  Bene-Tayyi,  lustrous  as 
the  moon  of  Ramazan  to  eager  watchers  on  high  hill- 
tops, and  better  than  other  men,  even  as  all  the 
virtues  together  are  better  than  any  one  of  them, 
excepting  charity  and  love  of  God. 

"Now  Hatim's  mother  was  a  widow,  poor,  and 
without  relations,  but  beloved  by  the  Compassionate, 
and  always  in  his  care,  because  she  was  wise  beyond 
the  men  of  her  time,  and  kept  his  laws,  as  they  were 
known,  and  taught  them  to  her  son.  One  day  a 
great  cry  arose  in  the  village.  Everybody  rushed  to 
see  the  cause,  and  then  joined  in  the  clamor. 

"Up  in  the  north  there  was  an  appearance  the  like 
of  which  had  never  been  beheld,  nor  were  there  any 
to  tell  what  it  was  from  hearsay.  Some  pooh-poohed, 
saying,  contemptuously: 

"  "Tis  only  a  cloud.' 

"  Others,  observing  how  rapidly  it  came,  in  move- 
ment like  a  bird  sailing  on  outspread  motionless 
wings,  said: 

"  'A  roc!    A  roc!' 

"  When  the  object  was  nearer,  a  few  of  the  villa- 
gers, in  alarm,  ran  to  their  houses,  shrieking : 

"  'Israfil,  Israfill  He  is  bringing  the  end  of 
time!' 

"  Soon  the  sight  was  nearly  overhead;  then  it  was 
going  by,  its  edge  overhead,  the  rest  of  it  extending 
eastwardly ;  and  it  was  long  and  broad  as  a  pasture 
for  ten  thousand  camels,  and  horses  ten  thousand. 
It  had  no  likeness  earthly  except  a  carpet  of  green 
silk ;  nor  could  those  standing  under  describe  what 
bore  it  along.  They  thought  they  heard  the  sound 
of  a  strong  wind,  but  as  the  air  above  far  and  near 


was  full  of  birds  great  and  small,  birds  of  the  water 
as  well  as  the  land,  all  flying  evenly  with  the  carpet, 
and  making  a  canopy  of  their  wings,  and  shade 
deeper  than  a  cloud's,  the  beholders  were  uncertain 
whether  the  birds  or  the  wind  served  it.  In  passing, 
it  dipped  gently,  giving  them  a  view  of  what  it  car- 
ried— a  throne  of  pearl  and  rainbow,  and  a  crowned 
King  sitting  in  majesty ;  at  his  left  hand,  an  army  of 
spirits,  at  his  right,  an  army  of  men  in  martial  sheen. 

"  While  the  prodigy  was  before  them,  the  specta- 
tors stirred  not ;  nor  was  there  one  brave  enough  to 
speak ;  most  of  them  with  their  eyes  devoured  it  all, 
King  and  throne,  birds,  men  and  spirits;  though 
afterwards  there  was  asking : 

"  '  Did  you  see  the  birds  ? ' 

"  'No.' 

"  '  The  spirits  ?' 

"  'No.' 

"  'The  men?' 

"  '  I  saw  only  the  King  upon  His  throne.1 

"In  the  passing,  also,  a  man,  in  splendor  of  ap- 
parel, stood  on  the  carpet's  edge  and  shouted : 

' '  '  God  is  great !  I  bear  witness  there  is  no  God 
but  God.' 

"  The  same  instant  something  fell  from  his  hand. 
When  the  marvel  was  out  of  sight  in  the  south,  some 
bethought  them,  and  went  to  see  what  it  was  which 
fell.  They  came  back  laughing,  '  It  was  only  a 
gourd,  and  as  we  have  much  better  on  our  camel- 
saddles,  we  threw  it  away.' 

"  But  the  mother  of  Hatim,  listening  to  the  report, 
was  not  content.  In  her  childhood  she  heard  what 
was  tradition  then ;  how  Solomon,  at  the  completion 
of  his  temple  in  Jerusalem,  journeyed  to  Mecca  upon 
a  carpet  of  silk  wafted  by  the  wind,  with  men,  spirits, 


233 

and  birds.  Wherefore,  saying  to  herself,  '  It  was 
Solomon  going  to  Mecca.  Not  for  nothing  threw  he 
the  gourd,'  she  went  alone,  and  brought  it  in,  and 
opened  it,  finding  three  seeds — one  red,  like  a  ruby ; 
a  second  blue,  like  a  sapphire ;  the  third  green,  like 
an  emerald. 

"Now  she  might  have  sold  the  seeds,  for  they 
were  beautiful  as  gems  cut  for  a  crown,  and  enriched 
herself ;  but  Hatim  was  all  the  world  to  her.  They 
were  for  him,  she  said,  and  getting  a  brown  nut 
such  as  washes  up  from  vines  in  the  sea,  she  cut  it, 
put  the  treasures  into  it,  sealed  them  there,  and  tied 
them  around  the  boy's  neck. 

"'Thanks,  O  Solomon,'  she  said.  'There  is  no 
God  but  God;  and  I  shall  teach  the  lesson  to  my 
Hatim  in  the  morning,  when  al  hudhud  flies  for 
water;  at  noon,  when  it  whistles  to  itself  in  the 
shade ;  and  at  night,  when  it  draws  a  wing  over  its 
head  to  darken  the  darkness,  and  sleep.' 

"And  from  that  day  through  all  his  days  Hatim 
wore  the  brown  nut  with  the  three  seeds  in  it ;  nor 
was  there  ever  such  an  amulet  before  or  since ;  for, 
besides  being  defended  by  the  genii  who  are  Solo- 
mon's servants,  he  grew  one  of  the  exemplars  prom- 
ised by  God,  having  in  himself  every  virtue.  No 
one  braver  than  he;  none  so  charitable;  none  so 
generous  and  merciful;  none  so  eloquent;  none  on 
whose  lips  poetry  was  such  sweet  speech  for  the  ex- 
alting of  souls ;  above  all,  never  had  there  been  such 
a  keeper  of  his  word  of  promise. 

"And  of  this  judge  you  by  some  of  the  many 
things  they  tell  of  him. 

"A  famine  fell  upon  the  land.  It  was  when  Hatim 
had  become  Sheik  of  his  tribe.  The  women  and 
children  were  perishing.  The  men  could  no  more 

16 


234 

than  witness  their  suffering.  They  knew  not  whom 
to  accuse;  they  knew  no  one  to  receive  a  prayer. 
The  time  predicted  was  come — the  name  of  God 
had  gone  out  utterly,  like  the  green  of  last  year's 
leaf.  In  the  Sheik's  tent  even,  as  with  the  poor- 
est, hunger  could  not  be  allayed — there  was  noth- 
ing to  eat.  The  last  camel  had  been  devoured— 
one  horse  remained.  More  than  once  the  good  man 
went  out  to  kill  him,  but  the  animal  was  so  beauti- 
ful— so  affectionate — so  fleet!  And  the  desert  was 
not  wide  enough  to  hold  his  fame !  How  much  easier 
to  say,  '  Another  day — to-morrow  it  may  rain.' 

' '  He  sat  in  his  tent  telling  his  wife  and  children 
stories,  for  he  was  not  merely  the  best  warrior  of  his 
day;  he  was  the  most  renowned  poet  and  story- 
teller. Riding  into  battle,  his  men  would  say,  '  Sing 
to  us,  O  Hatim — sing,  and  we  will  fight.'  And  they 
he  loved  best,  listening  to  him,  had  nigh  forgot  their 
misery,  when  the  curtain  of  the  tent  was  raised. 

"  '  Who  is  there  ? '  he  asked. 

"'Thy  neighbor,'  and  the  voice  was  a  woman's. 
'  My  children  are  an  hungred  and  crying,  and  I  have 
nothing  for  them.  Help,  O  Sheik,  help  or  they  die.' 

"  '  Bring  them  here,'  he  said,  rising. 

"'She  is  not  worse  off  than  we,'  said  his  wife, 
'  nor  are  her  children  more  hungry  than  ours.  What 
will  you  do  ? ' 

"  '  The  appeal  was  to  me,'  he  answered. 

"And  passing  out,  he  slew  the  horse,  and  kindled 
a  fire;  then,  while  the  stranger  and  her  children 
were  sharing  piece  by  piece  with  his  own,  '  Shame, 
shame!'  he  said,  'that  ye  alone  should  eat;'  and 
going  through  the  do  war,  he  brought  the  neighbor* 
together,  and  he  only  went  hungry.  There  was  no 
more  of  the  meat  left. 


335 

"  Was  ever  one  merciful  like  Hatim  ?  In  combat, 
he  gave  lives,  but  took  none.  Once  an  antagonist 
under  his  foot,  called  to  him :  '  Give  me  thy  spear, 
Hatim,'  and  he  gave  it. 

" '  Foolish  man ! '  his  brethren  exclaimed. 

"  '  What  else  was  there  ? '  he  answered.  '  Did  not 
the  poor  man  ask  a  gift  of  me  ? ' 

"Never  a  captive  besought  his  help  vainly.  On  a 
journey  once,  a  prisoner  begged  him  to  buy  his 
liberty ;  but  he  was  without  the  money  required,  and 
on  that  account  he  was  sorely  distressed.  To  his 
entreaties,  the  strangers  listened  hard-heartedly;  at 
last  he  said  to  them : 

"  Am  not  I — Hatim — good  as  he  ?  Let  him  go,  and 
take  me.' 

"And  knocking  the  chains  from  the  unfortunate, 
he  had  them  put  on  himself,  and  wore  them  until 
the  ransom  came. 

"  In  his  eyes  a  poet  was  greater  than  a  king,  and 
than  singing  a  song  well  the  only  thing  better  was 
being  the  subject  of  a  song.  Perpetuation  by  tombs 
he  thought  vulgar;  so  the  glory  unremembered  in 
verse  deserved  oblivion.  Was  it  wonderful  he  gave 
and  kept  giving  to  story-tellers,  careless  often  if 
what  he  thus  disposed  of  was  another's  ? 

' '  Once  in  his  youth — and  at  hearing  this,  O  Prin- 
cess, the  brown-faced  sons  of  the  desert,  old  and 
young,  laugh,  and  clap  their  hands — he  gave  of  his 
grandfather's  store  until  the  prudent  old  man,  in- 
tending to  cure  him  of  his  extravagance,  sent  him  to 
tend  his  herds  in  the  country.  Alas ! 

"Across  the  plain  Hatim  one  day  beheld  a  cara- 
van, and  finding  it  escorting  three  poets  to  the  court 
of  the  King  of  El-Herah,  he  invited  them  to  stop 
with  him,  and  while  he  killed  a  camel  for  each  of 


286 

them,  they  recited  songs  in  his  praise,  and  that  of 
his  kin.  When  they  wished  to  resume  the  journey, 
he  detained  them. 

"  'There  is  no  gift  like  the  gift  of  song,'  he  said. 
'  I  will  do  better  by  you  than  will  he,  the  King  to 
whom  you  are  going.  Stay  with  me,  and  for  every 
verse  you  write  I  will  give  you  a  camel.  Behold  the 
herd!' 

"And  at  departing,  they  had  each  a  hundred  cam- 
els, and  he  three  hundred  verses. 

' '  '  Where  is  the  herd  ? '  the  grandfather  asked, 
when  next  he  came  to  the  pasture. 

"  'See  thou.  Here  are  songs  in  honor  of  our 
house,'  Hatim  answered,  proudly — 'songs  by  great 
poets ;  and  they  will  be  repeated  until  all  Arabia  is 
filled  with  our  glory.' 

"  'Alas!  Thou  hast  ruined  me!'  the  elder  cried, 
beating  his  breast. 

"  '  What ! '  said  Hatim,  indignantly.  '  Carest  thou 
more  for  the  dirty  brutes  than  for  the  crown  of  honor 
I  bought  with  them  ? '  " 

Here  the  Arab  paused.  The  recitation,  it  is  tc 
be  remarked,  had  been  without  action,  or  facial 
assistance — a  wholly  unornate  delivery;  and  now 
he  kept  stately  silence.  His  eyes,  intensely  bright 
in  the  shadow  of  the  kufiyeh,  may  have  produced 
the  spell  which  held  the  Princess  throughout ;  or  it 
may  have  been  the  eyes  and  voice ;  or,  quite  as  likely, 
the  character  of  Hatim  touched  a  responsive  chord 
in  her  breast. 

"I  thank  you,"  she  said,  adding  presently:  "In 
saying  I  regret  the  story  ended  so  soon,  I  pray  you 
receive  my  opinion  of  its  telling.  I  doubt  if  Hatim 
himself  could  have  rendered  it  better." 


m 

The  Arab  recognized  the  compliment  with  the 
faintest  of  bows,  but  made  no  reply  in  words.  Irene 
then  raised  her  veil,  and  spoke  again. 

"  Thy  Hatiin,  O  eloquent  Arab,  was  warrior  and 
poet,  and,  as  thou  hast  shown  him  to  me,  he  was 
also  a  philosopher.  In  what  age  did  he  live  ? " 

"  He  was  a  shining  light  in  the  darkness  preceding 
the  appearance  of  the  Prophet.  That  period  is  date- 
less with  us." 

"  It  is  of  little  consequence, "  she  continued.  ' '  Had 
he  lived  in  our  day,  he  would  have  been  more  than 
poet,  warrior  and  philosopher — he  would  be  a  Chris- 
tian. His  charity  and  love  of  others,  his  denial  of 
self,  sound  like  the  Christ.  Doubtless  he  could  have 
died  for  his  fellow-men.  Hast  thou  not  more  of 
him  ?  Surely  he  lived  long  and  happily." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Arab,  with  a  flash  of  the  eyes  to 
denote  his  appreciation  of  the  circumstance.  "  He 
is  reported  to  have  been  the  most  wretched  of  men. 
His  wife — I  pray  you  will  observe  I  am  speaking  by 
the  tradition — his  wife  had  the  power,  so  dreadful  to 
husbands,  of  raising  Iblis  at  pleasure.  It  delighted 
her  to  beat  him  and  chase  him  from  his  tent ;  at  last 
she  abandoned  him." 

"Ah!"  the  Princess  exclaimed.  "His  charities 
were  not  admirable  in  her  eyes." 

"The  better  explanation,  Princess,  maybe  found 
in  a  saying  we  have  in  the  desert — '  A  tall  man  may 
wed  a  small  woman,  but  a  great  soul  shall  not  enter 
into  bonds  with  a  common  one.'  " 

There  was  silence  then,  and  as  the  gaze  of  the 
story-teller  was  again  finding  a  fascination  in  her 
face,  Irene  took  refuge  behind  her  veil,  but  said, 
presently : 

"  With  permission,  I  will  take  the  story  of  Hatiin 


for  mine;  but  here  is  my  friend-~-what  hast  thou 
for  her  ? " 

The  story-teller  turned  to  Lael. 

"  Her  pleasure  shall  be  mine,"  he  said. 

"I  should  like  something  Indian,"  the  girl  an- 
swered, timidly,  for  the  eyes  oppressed  her  also. 

"Alas !  India  has  no  tales  of  love.  Her  poetry  is 
about  gods  and  abstract  religions.  Wherefore,  if  I 
may  choose,  I  will  a  tale  from  Persia  next.  In  that 
country  there  was  a  verse-maker  called  Firdousi, 
and  he  wrote  a  great  poem,  The  Shah  Ndmeh,  with 
a  warrior  for  hero.  This  is  how  Rustem,  in  single 
combat,  killed  Sohrab,  not  knowing  tbe  youth  was 
his  son  until  after  the  awful  deed  was  done. " 

The  tale  was  full  of  melancholy  interest,  and  told 
with  singular  grace  ;  but  it  continued  until  after 
nightfall  ;  of  which  the  party  was  admonished  by 
the  attendants  coming  to  light  the  lamps.  At  the 
conclusion,  the  Arab  courteously  apologized  for  the 
time  he  had  wrested  from  them. 

"In  dealing  with  us,  O  Princess,"  he  said,  "pa- 
tience is  full  as  lovely  as  charity." 

Lifting  the  veil  again,  she  extended  her  hand  to 
him,  saying,  ' '  The  obligation  is  with  us.  I  thank 
you  for  making  light  and  pleasant  an  afternoon 
which  else  had  been  tedious." 

He  kissed  her  hand,  and  followed  the  eunuch  to 
the  door.  Then  the  supper  was  announced. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  TURQUOISE    RING 

THE  Prince  of  India,  left  in  the  passage  of  the 
Castle  with  Sergius,  was  not  displeased  with  the 
course  the  adventure  appeared  to  be  taking.  In  the 
first  place,  he  felt  no  alarm  for  Lael ;  she  might  be 
uncomfortable  in  the  quarter  to  which  she  had  been 
conducted,  but  that  was  all,  and  it  would  not  last 
long.  The  guardianship  of  the  eunuch  was  in  his 
view  a  guaranty  of  her  personal  safety.  In  the  next 
place,  acquaintance  with  the  Princess  might  prove 
serviceable  in  the  future.  He  believed  Lael  fitted 
for  the  highest  rank;  she  was  already  educated  be- 
yond the  requirements  of  the  age  for  women;  her 
beauty  was  indisputable;  as  a  consequence,  he  had 
thought  of  her  a  light  in  the  court ;  and  not  unpleas- 
antly it  occurred  to  him  now  that  the  fair  Princess 
might  carry  keys  for  both  the  inner  and  outer  doors 
of  the  royal  residence. 

Generally  the  affair  which  was  of  concern  to  Lael 
was  an  affair  of  absorbing  interest  to  the  Prince ;  in 
this  instance,  however,  another  theme  offered  itself 
for  the  moment  a  superior  attraction. 

The  impression  left  by  the  young  master  of  cere- 
monies in  the  reception  at  the  landing  was  of  a  kind 
to  arouse  curiosity.  His  appearance,  manner,  speech 
and  the  homage  paid  him  denoted  exalted  rank; 
while  the  confidence  with  which  he  spoke  for  Sultan 


240 

Amurath  was  most  remarkable.  His  acceptance  of 
the  terms  presented  by  the  Princess  Irene  was  little 
short  of  downright  treaty -making ;  and  what  com- 
mon official  dared  carry  assumption  to  such  a 
height  ?  Finally  the  Prince  fell  to  thinking  if 
there  was  any  person  the  actual  governor  of  the 
Castle  would  quietly  permit  to  go  masquerading  in 
his  authority  and  title. 

Then  everything  pointed  him  to  Prince  Mahom- 
med.  The  correspondence  in  age  was  perfect ;  the 
martial  array  seen  galloping  down  the  bank  was  a 
fitting  escort  for  the  heir-apparent  of  the  gray  Sul- 
tan; and  he  alone  might  with  propriety  speak  for 
his  father  in  a  matter  of  state. 

"  A  mistake  cannot  be  serious,"  said  the  Prince  to 
himself,  at  the  end  of  the  review.  "  I  will  proceed 
upon  the  theory  that  the  young  man  is  Prince  Ma- 
hommed." 

This  was  no  sooner  determined  than  the  restless 
mind  flew  forward  to  an  audience.  The  time  and 
place — midnight  in  the  lonesome  old  Castle — were 
propitious,  and  he  was  prepared  for  it. 

Indeed  it  was  the  very  purpose  he  had  in  view 
the  night  of  the  repast  in  his  tent  at  El  Zaribah 
where  he  so  mysteriously  intrusted  the  Emir  Mirza 
with  revelations  concerning  the  doom  of  Constanti- 
nople. 

Once  more  he  ran  over  the  scheme  which  had 
brought  him  from  Cipango.  If  Islam  could  not  be 
brought  to  lead  in  the  project,  Christendom  might 
be  more  amenable  to  reason.  The  Moslem  world 
was  to  be  reached  through  the  Kaliph  whom  he  ex- 
pected to  find  in  Egypt ;  wherefore  his  contemplated 
trip  down  the  Nile  from  Kash-Cush.  If  driven  to 
the  Christian,  Constantino  was  to  be  his  operator. 


241 

Such  in  broadest  generality  was  the  plan  of  execu- 
tion he  had  resolved  upon. 

But  to  these  possibilities  he  had  appended  another 
of  which  it  is  now  necessary  to  speak. 

Enough  has  been  given  to  apprise  the  reader  of  the 
things  to  which  the  Prince  preferably  devoted  him- 
self. These  were  international  affairs,  and  transcen- 
dently  war.  If  indeed  the  latter  were  not  the  object 
he  had  always  specially  in  mind,  it  was  the  end 
to  which  his  management  usually  conducted.  For 
mere  enjoyment  in  the  sight  of  men  facing  the  death 
which  strangely  passed  him  by,  he  delighted  in  hov- 
ering on  the  edge  of  battle  until  there  was  a  crisis, 
and  then  plunging  into  its  heated  heart. 

He  had  also  a  peculiar  method  of  bringing  war 
about.  This  consisted  in  providing  for  punishments 
in  case  his  enterprises  miscarried.  Invariably  some- 
body suffered  for  such  failures.  In  that  way  he 
soothed  the  pangs  of  wounded  vanity. 

When  he  was  inventing  the  means  for  executing 
his  plots,  and  forming  the  relations  essential  to  them, 
it  was  his  habit  to  select  instruments  of  punishment 
in  advance. 

Probably  no  better  illustration  of  this  feature  of 
his  dealings  can  be  given  than  is  furnished  by  the 
affair  now  engaging  him.  If  he  failed  to  move  the 
Kaliph  to  lead  the  reform,  he  would  resort  to  Con- 
stantine;  if  the  Emperor  also  declined,  he  would 
make  him  pay  the  penalty;  then  came  the  reserva- 
tion. So  soon  after  his  arrival  from  Cipango  as  he 
could  inform  himself  of  the  political  conditions  of 
the  world  to  which  he  was  returning,  he  fixed  upon 
Mahommed  to  avenge  him  upon  the  offending  Greek. 

The  meeting  with  Mirza  at  El  Zaribah  was  a  favor- 
able opportunity  to  begin  operating  upon  the  youug 
16 


Turk.  The  tale  the  Emir  received  that  night  unde* 
solemn  injunctions  of  secrecy  was  really  intended  for 
his  master.  How  well  it  was  devised  for  the  end  in 
view  the  reader  will  be  able  to  judge  from  what  is 
now  to  follow. 

The  audience  with  Mahommed  determined  upon 
by  the  Prince  of  India,  our  first  point  of  interest  is  in 
observing  how  he  set  about  accomplishing  it.  His 
promptness  was  characteristic. 

Directly  the  ladies  had  disappeared  with  the  eu- 
nuch, the  soldiers  poured  from  their  hiding-places 
in  the  Castle,  and  seeing  one  whom  he  judged  an 
officer,  the  Prince  called  to  him  in  Turkish : 

"  Ho,  my  friend!  " 

The  man  was  obliging. 

"Present  my  salutations  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Castle,  and  say  the  Prince  of  India  desires  speech 
with  him." 

The  soldier  hesitated. 

"Understand,"  said  the  Prince,  quickly,  "my 
message  is  not  to  the  great  Lord  who  received  me  at 
the  landing.  But  the  Governor  in  fact.  Bring  him 
here." 

The  confident  manner  prevailed. 

Presently  the  messenger  returned  with  a  burly, 
middle-aged  person  in  guidance.  A  green  turban 
above  a  round  face,  large  black  eyes  in  muffling  of 
fleshy  lids,  pallid  cheeks  lost  in  dense  beard,  a  drab 
gown  lined  with  yellow  fur,  a  naked  cimeter  in  a  silk- 
embroidered  sash,  bespoke  the  Turk ;  but  how  unlike 
the  handsome,  fateful-looking  masquerader  at  the 
river  side ! 

"  The  Prince  of  India  has  the  honor  of  speech  with 
the  Governor  of  the  Castle  ? " 

"  God  be  praised,"  the  Governor  replied.     "  I  was 


248 

seeking  your  Highness.  Besides  wishing  to  join  in 
your  thanks  for  happy  deliverance  from  the  storm, 
I  thought  to  discharge  my  duty  as  a  Moslem  host  hy 
conducting  you  to  refreshments  and  repose.  Fol- 
low me,  I  pray." 

A  few  steps  on  the  way,  the  Governor  stopped : 

"  Was  there  not  a  companion — a  younger  man — a 
Dervish  ? " 

"A  monk,"  said  the  Prince;  "and  the  question 
reminds  me  of  my  attendant,  a  negro.  Send  for  him 
— or  better,  bring  them  both  to  me.  I  wish  them  to 
share  my  apartment." 

In  a  short  time  the  three  were  in  quarters,  if  one 
small  room  may  be  so  dignified.  The  walls  were 
cold  gray  stone  ;  one  oblong  narrow  port-hole  ad- 
mitted scanty  light  ;  a  rough  bench,  an  immense 
kettle-drum  shaped  like  the  half  of  an  egg-shell,  and 
propped  broadside  up,  some  piles  of  loose  straw,  each 
with  folded  sheepskins  on  it,  constituted  the  furnish- 
ment. 

Sergius  made  no  sign  of  surprise  or  disappoint- 
ment. Possibly  the  chamber  and  its  contents  were 
reproductions  of  his  cell  up  in  Bielo-Osero.  Nilo 
gave  himself  to  study  of  the  drum,  reminded,  doubt- 
less, of  similar  warlike  devices  in  Kash-Cush.  The 
Prince  alone  expostulated.  Taking  a  stand  between 
the  Governor  and  the  door,  he  said : 

"A  question  before  thou  goest  hence." 

The  Turk  gazed  at  him  silently. 

"  To  what  accommodations  have  the  Princess  Irene 
and  her  attendant  been  taken  ?  Are  they  vile  as 
these  ? " 

"The  reception  room  of  my  harem  is  the  most 
comfortable  the  Castle  affords,"  the  Governor  an- 
swered. 


"  And  they  ?" 

"  They  are  occupying  it." 

"Not  by  courtesy  of  thine.  He  who  could  put 
the  hospitality  of  the  Prince  Mahommed  to  shame 
by  maltreating  one  of  his  guests  " — 

He  paused,  and  grimly  surveyed  the  room. 

4 '  Such  a  servant  would  be  as  evil-minded  to  an- 
other guest;  and  that  the  other  is  a  woman,  would 
not  affect  his  imbruited  soul." 

"The  Prince  Mahommed!"  the  Governor  ex- 
claimed. 

"Yes.  What  brings  him  here,  matters  not ;  his 
wish  to  keep  the  Romans  in  ignorance  of  his  near 
presence,  I  know  as  well  as  thou;  none  the  less,  it 
was  his  royal  word  we  accepted.  As  for  thee — thou 
mightest  have  promised  faith  and  hospitality  with 
thy  hand  on  the  Prophet's  beard,  yet  would  I  have 
bidden  the  Princess  trust  herself  to  the  tempest 
sooner. " 

Sergius  was  now  standing  by,  but  the  conversation 
being  in  Turkish,  he  listened  without  understand- 
ing. 

' '  Thou  ass !  "  the  Prince  continued.  ' '  Not  to  know 
that  the  kinswoman  of  the  Roman  Emperor,  under 
this  roof  by  treaty  with  the  mighty  Amurath,  his 
son  the  negotiator,  is  our  guardian  !  When  the 
storm  shall  have  spent  itself,  and  the  waters  quieted 
down,  she  will  resume  her  journey.  Then — it  may 
be  in  the  morning — she  will  first  ask  for  us,  and 
then  thy  master  will  require  to  know  how  we  have 
passed  the  night.  Ah,  thou  beginnest  to  see !  " 

The  Governor's  head  was  drooping  ;  his  hands 
crossed  themselves  upon  his  stomach ;  and  when  he 
raised  his  eyes,  they  were  full  of  deprecation  and 
entreaty. 


MS 

"  Your  Highness — most  noble  Lord — condescend  to 
hear  me. " 

"  Speak.  I  am  awake  to  hear  the  falsehood  thou 
hast  invented  in  excuse  of  thy  perfidy  to  us,  and  thy 
treason  to  him,  the  most  generous  of  masters,  the 
most  chivalrous  of  knights." 

"  Your  Highness  has  greatly  misconceived  me.  In 
the  first  place  you  have  forgotten  the  crowded  state 
of  the  Castle.  Every  room  and  passage  is  filled  with 
the  suite  and  escort  of  " — 

He  hesitated,  and  turned  pale,  like  a  man  dropped 
suddenly  into  a  great  danger.  The  shrewd  guest 
caught  at  the  broken  sentence  and  finished  it : 

"  Of  Prince  Mahommed!  " 

"With  the  suite  and  escort,"  the  Governor  re- 
peated. .  .  .  "In  the  next  place,  it  was  not  my 
intention  to  leave  you  unprovided.  From  my  own 
apartments,  light,  beds  and  seats  were  ordered  to  be 
brought  here,  with  meats  for  refreshment,  and  water 
for  cleansing  and  draught.  The  order  is  in  course  of 
execution  now.  Indeed,  your  Highness,  I  swear  by 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Koran  " — 

"  Take  something  less  holy  to  swear  by,"  cried  the 
Prince. 

"Then,  by  the  bones  of  the  Faithful,  I  swear  I 
meant  to  make  you  comfortable,  even  to  my  own 
deprivation. " 

"  By  thy  young  master's  bidding  ? " 

The  Governor  bent  forward  very  low. 

"Well,"  said  the  Prince,  softening  his  manner — 
"the  misconception  was  natural." 

"Yes— yes." 

"  And  now  thou  hast  only  to  prove  thy  intention 
by  making  it  good." 

"Trust  me,  your  Highness." 


2*6 

"  Trust  thee  ?  Ay,  on  proof.  I  have  a  commis- 
sion "— 

The  Prince  then  drew  a  ring  from  his  finger. 

"  Take  this,"  he  said,  "  and  deliver  it  to  the  Emir 
Mirza." 

The  assurance  of  the  speech  was  irresistible  ;  so 
the  Turk  held  out  his  hand  to  receive  the  token. 

"  And  say  to  the  Emir,  that  I  desire  him  to  thank 
the  Most  Compassionate  and  Merciful  for  the  salva- 
tion of  which  we  were  witnesses  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  Kaaba." 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  the  Governor.  "  Art  thou  a 
Moslem  ? " 

"  I  am  not  a  Christian." 

The  Governor,  accepting  the  ring,  kissed  the  hand 
offering  it,  and  took  his  departure,  moving  back- 
ward, and  with  downcast  eyes,  his  manner  declara- 
tive of  the  most  abject  humility. 

Hardly  was  the  door  closed  behind  the  outgoing 
official,  when  the  Prince  began  to  laugh  quietly  and 
rub  his  hands  together — quietly,  we  say,  for  the  feel- 
ing was  not  merriment  so  much  as  self-gratulation. 

There  was  cleverness  in  having  doubted  the  per- 
sonality of  the  individual  who  received  the  refugees 
at  the  landing ;  there  was  greater  cleverness  in  the 
belief  which  converted  the  Governor  into  the  Prince 
Mahommed ;  but  the  play  by  which  the  fact  was  un- 
covered— if  not  a  stroke  of  genius,  how  may  it  be 
better  described  ?  The  Prince  of  India  thought  as  he 
laughed : 

"  Not  long  now  until  Amurath  joins  his  fathers, 
and  then — Mahommed." 

Presently  he  stopped,  a  step  half  taken,  his  gaze 
upon  the  floor,  his  hands  clasped  behind  him.  He 
stood  so  still  it  would  not  have  been  amiss  to  believe 


Mf 

a  thought  was  all  the  life  there  was  in  him.  He  cer- 
tainly did  believe  in  astrology.  Had  not  men  been 
always  ruled  by  what  they  imagined  heavenly  signs  ? 
How  distinctly  he  remembered  the  age  of  the  oracle 
and  the  augur !  Upon  their  going  out  he  became  a 
believer  in  the  stars  as  prophets,  and  then  an  adept ; 
afterwhile  he  reached  a  stage  when  he  habitually 
mistook  the  commonest  natural  results,  even  coin- 
cidences, for  confirmations  of  planetary  forecasts. 
And  now  this  halting  and  breathlessness  was  from 
sudden  recollection  that  the  horoscope  lying  on  his 
table  in  Constantinople  had  relation  to  Mahommed 
in  his  capacity  of  Conqueror.  How  marvellous  also 
that  from  the  meeting  with  Constantino  in  the  street 
of  the  city,  he  should  have  been  blown  by  a  tem- 
pest to  a  meeting  with  Mahommed  in  the  White 
Castle ! 

These  circumstances,  trifling  to  the  reader,  were 
of  deep  influence  to  the  Prince  of  India.  While  he 
stands  there  rigid  as  a  figure  marbleized  in  mid 
action,  he  is  saying  to  himself : 

"The  audience  will  take  place — Heaven  has  ordered 
it.  Would  I  knew  what  manner  of  man  this  Ma- 
hommed is !  " 

He  had  seen  a  handsome  youth,  graceful  in  bear- 
ing, quick  and  subtle  in  speech,  cultivated  and  evi- 
dently used  to  governing.  Very  good,  but  what  an 
advantage  there  would  be  in  knowing  the  bents  and 
inclinations  of  the  royal  lad  beforehand. 

Presently  the  schemer's  head  arose.  The  boyish 
Prince  was  going  about  in  armor  when  soft  raiment 
would  be  excusable — and  that  meant  ambition,  dreams 
of  conquest,  dedication  to  martial  glory.  Very  good 
indeed !  And  then  his  manner  under  the  eyes  of  the 
girlish  Princess — how  quickly  her  high-born  grrace 


248 

had  captivated  him !  Something  impossible  were  he 
not  of  a  romantic  turn,  a  poet,  sentimentalist,  knight 
errant. 

The  Prince  clapped  his  hands.  He  knew  the  ap- 
peals effective  with  such  natures.  Let  the  audience 
come.  .  .  .  Ah,  but — 

Again  he  sunk  into  thought.  Youths  like  Mahom- 
med  were  apt  to  be  wilful.  How  was  he  to  be  con- 
trolled ?  One  expedient  after  another  was  swiftly 
considered  and  as  swiftly  rejected.  At  last  the  right 
one!  Like  his  ancestors  from  Ertoghrul  down,  the 
young  Turk  was  a  believer  in  the  stars.  Not  un- 
likely he  was  then  in  the  Castle  by  permission  of  his 
astrologer.  Indeed,  if  Mirza  had  repeated  the  con- 
versation and  predictions  at  El  Zaribah,  the  Prince 
of  India  was  being  waited  for  with  an  impatience 
due  a  master  of  the  astral  craft.  Again  the  Wan- 
derer cried,  "Let  the  audience  come! "  and  peace  and 
confidence  were  possessing  him  when  a  loud  report 
and  continuous  rumble  in  the  room  set  the  solid  floor 
to  quaking.  He  looked  around  in  time  to  see  the  big 
drum  quivering  under  a  blow  from  Nilo. 

From  the  negro  his  gaze  wandered  to  Sergius  stand- 
ing before  the  one  loophole  by  which  light  and  air 
were  let  into  the  dismal  chamber;  and  recalling  the 
monk  as  the  sole  attendant  of  the  Princess  Irene,  he 
thought  it  best  to  speak  to  him. 

Drawing  near,  he  observed  the  cowl  thrown  back, 
and  that  the  face  was  raised,  the  eyes  closed,  the 
hands  palm  to  palm  upon  the  breast.  Involuntarily 
he  stopped,  not  because  he  was  one  of  those  who  al- 
ways presume  the  most  Holy  Presence  when  prayer  is 
being  offered — he  stopped,  wondering  where  he  had 
seen  that  countenance.  The  delicate  features,  the 
nallid  complexion,  the  immature  beard,  the  fair  hair 


parted  in  the  middle,  and  falling  in  wavy  locks  over 
the  shoulders,  the  aspect  manly  yet  womanly  in  its 
refinement,  were  strangely  familiar  to  him.  It  was 
his  first  view  of  the  monk's  face.  Where  had  he 
seen  it  ?  His  memory  went  back,  far  hack  of  the 
recent.  A  chill  struck  his  heart.  The  features,  look, 
air,  portrait,  the  expression  indefinable  except  as  a 
light  of  outcoming  spirit,  were  those  of  the  man  he 
had  helped  crucify  before  the  Damascus  gate  in  the 
Holy  City,  and  whom  he  could  no  more  cast  out  of 
mind  than  he  could  the  bones  from  his  body.  His 
feet  seemed  rooting  into  the  flinty  flags  beneath  them. 
He  heard  the  centurion  call  to  him :  "Ho,  there!  If 
thou  knowest  the  Golgotha,  come  show  it."  He  felt 
the  sorrowful  eyes  of  the  condemned  upon  him.  He 
struck  the  bloody  cheek,  and  cried  as  to  a  beast :  "  Go 
faster,  Jesus ! "  And  then  the  words,  wrung  from 
infinite  patience  at  last  broken : 

"I  am  going,  but  do  thou  TARRY  TILL  I  COMB." 

For  relief,  he  spoke: 

"What  dost  thou,  my  friend  ?  " 

Sergius  opened  his  eyes  and  answered  simply,  "  I 
am  praying." 

"To  whom?" 

"To  God." 

"  Art  thou  a  Christian  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  God  is  for  the  Jew  and  the  Moslem." 

"Nay,"  said  Sergius,  looking  at  the  Prince  with- 
out taking  down  his  hands,  "all  who  believe  in  God 
find  happiness  and  salvation  in  Him — the  Christian 
as  well  as  the  Jew  and  the  Moslem." 

The  questions  had  been  put  with  abrupt  intensity; 
now  the  inquisitor  drew  back  astonished.  He  heard 
the  very  postulate  of  the  scheme  to  which  he  was 
17 


250 

devoting  himself — and  from  a  boy  so  like  the  dead 
Christ  he  was  working  to  blot  out  of  worship  he 
seemed  the  Christ  arisen ! 

The  amazement  passed  slowly,  and  with  its  going 
the  habitual  shrewdness  and  capacity  to  make  ser- 
vants of  circumstances  apparently  the  most  unto- 
ward returned.  The  youth  had  intellect,  impres- 
siveness,  aptitude  in  words,  and  a  sublime  idea.  But 
what  of  his  spirit — his  courage — his  endurance  in  the 
Faith  ? 

"How  came  this  doctrine  to  thee  ? " 

The  Prince  spoke  deferentially. 

"  From  the  good  father  Hilarion." 

"Who  is  he?" 

"  The  Archimandrite  of  Bielo-Osero." 

"A  monastery  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  How  did  he  receive  it  ? " 

"From  the  Spirit  of  God,  whence  Christ  had  his 
wisdom — whence  all  good  men  have  their  good- 
ness— by  virtue  of  which  they,  like  Him,  become 
sons  of  God." 

"  What  is  thy  name  ?" 

"Sergius." 

"Sergius" — the  Prince,  now  fully  recovered,  ex- 
erted his  power  of  will — "Sergius,  thou  art  a  her- 
etic." 

At  this  accusation,  so  terrible  in  those  days,  the 
monk  raised  the  rosary  of  large  beads  dangling  from 
his  girdle,  kissed  the  cross,  and  stood  surveying  the 
accuser  with  pity. 

"That  is,"  the  Prince  continued  with  greater 
severity,  "speak  thou  thus  to  the  Patriarch  yon- 
der"— he  waved  a  hand  toward  Constantinople — • 
"  dare  repeat  the  saying  to  a  commission  appointed 


251 

to  try  thee  for  heresy,  and  thou  wilt  thyself  taste 
the  pangs  of  crucifixion  or  be  cast  to  the  beasts." 

The  monk  arose  to  his  great  height,  and  replied, 
fervently : 

"  Knowest  thou  when  death  hath  the  sweetness  of 
sleep  ?  I  will  tell  thee" — A  light  certainly  not  from 
the  narrow  aperture  in  the  wall  collected  upon  his 
countenance,  and  shone  visibly — "It  is  when  a 
martyr  dies  knowing  both  of  God's  hands  are  a 
pillow  under  his  head." 

The  Prince  dropped  his  eyes,  for  he  was  asking 
himself,  was  such  sweetness  of  sleep  appointed  for 
him?  Resuming  his  natural  manner,  he  said:  "I 
understand  thee,  Sergius.  Probably  no  man  in  the 
world,  go  thou  East  or  West,  will  ever  understand 
thee  better.  God's  hands  under  my  head,  welcome 
death ! — Let  us  be  friends." 

Sergius  took  his  offered  hand. 

Just  then  there  -was  a  noise  at  the  door,  and  a 
troop  of  servants  entered  with  lighted  lamps,  rugs, 
a  table,  stools,  and  beds  and  bedding,  and  it  was 
not  long  until  the  apartment  was  made  habitable. 
The  Prince,  otherwise  well  satisfied,  wanted  nothing 
then  but  a  reply  from  Mirza;  and  in  the  midst  of 
his  wonder  at  the  latter's  delay,  a  page  in  brilliant 
costume  appeared,  and  called  out : 

'  'The  Emir  Mirza  I" 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    RING    RETURNS 

THE  Prince,  at  the  announcement  of  Mirza,  took 
position  near  the  centre  of  the  room  where  the  light 
was  ample.  His  black  velvet  pelisse  contrasting 
strongly  with  his  white  hair  and  beard,  he  looked  a 
mysterious  Indian  potentate  to  whom  occult  Nature 
was  a  familiar,  and  the  stars  oracular  friends. 

Mirza's  cheeks  were  scarcely  so  sun  and  sand  stained 
as  when  we  first  beheld  him  in  conduct  of  the  cara- 
van to  Mecca ;  in  other  respects  he  was  unchanged. 
His  attire,  like  the  lord  Mahommed's  at  the  reception 
on  the  landing,  was  of  chain  mail  very  light  and 
flexible.  He  carried  a  dagger  in  his  belt,  and  to 
further  signify  confidence  in  the  Prince,  the  flat 
steel  cap  forming  his  headgear  was  swinging  loosely 
from  his  left  arm ;  or  he  might  have  intended  to  help 
his  friend  to  a  more  ready  recognition  by  presenting 
himself  bareheaded.  He  met  his  survey  with  un- 
affected pleasure,  took  the  hand  extended  in  greet- 
ing, and  kissed  it  reverentially. 

"Forgive  me,  O  Prince,  if  my  first  greeting  have 
the  appearance  of  a  reproach, "  Mirza  said,  as  he  gave 
up  the  hand.  "  Why  have  you  kept  us  waiting  so 
long?" 

The  Prince's  countenance  assumed  a  severe  expres- 
sion. 

"Emir,  I  gave  you  confidence  under  seal." 


The  Emir  flushed  deeply. 

"  Was  it  knightly  to  betray  me  ?  To  whom  have 
you  told  the  secret  ?  How  many  have  been  waiting 
for  my  coming  ? " 

"Be  merciful,  I  pray." 

"  But  the  stars.  You  have  made  me  culprit  witb 
them.  I  may  pardon  you;  can  you  assure  me  of 
their  pardon  ?  " 

The  Emir  raised  his  head,  and  with  an  expostula- 
tory  gesture,  was  about  to  reply,  when  the  Prince 
continued,  "Put  thy  words  in  the  tongue  coinage 
of  Italy,  for  to  be  overheard  now  were  to  make  me 
an  offender  like  unto  thyself. " 

Mirza  glanced  hastily  at  Sergius,  still  praying  be- 
fore the  loophole,  and  at  Nilo ;  then  he  surveyed  the 
cell  critically,  and  said,  in  Italian,  "  This  is  the  pris- 
on of  the  Castle — and  thou — can  it  be  I  see  thee  a 
prisoner  ? " 

The  Prince  smiled.  "The  Governor  led  me  here 
with  my  friends ;  and  what  you  behold  of  accommo- 
dations he  sent  in  afterwards,  saying  the  better  rooms 
were  filled  with  soldiery." 

"  He  will  rue  the  deed.  My  Lord  is  swift  at  right- 
ing a  wrong,  and  trust  me,  O  Prince,  to  make  report. 
But  to  return  " — Mirza  paused,  and  looked  into  the 
Prince's  eyes  earnestly — "Is  your  accusation  just  ? 
Hear  me ;  then  by  the  motive  judge.  When  I  stood 
before  my  master,  Prince  Mahommed,  a  returned  pil- 
grim, if  not  taller  in  fact,  his  bearing  was  more  ma- 
jestic. I  kissed  his  hand  wondering  if  some  servant 
of  the  Compassionate,  some  angel  or  travelling  Jinn, 
had  not  arrived  before  me,  and  whispered  him  of 
what  you  told  me,  speaking  for  the  stars.  And  when 
we  were  alone,  he  would  have  account  of  the  coun- 
tries journeyed  through,  of  the  people  met,  of  Medina 


254 

and  Mecca,  and  the  other  holy  places ;  nor  would  he 
rest  until  he  had  from  me  the  sayings  I  had  heard 
on  the  way,  everything  from  calls  to  prayer  to  the 
Khatib's  sermon.  When  I  told  him  I  had  not  heard 
the  sermon,  nor  seen  the  preacher  or  his  camel,  he 
demanded  why,  and — what  else  was  there  to  do,  O 
Prince  ? — I  related  how  we  had  been  pursued  by  the 
terrible  Yellow  Air ;  how  it  had  overtaken  me ;  how 
I  fell  down  dying  at  the  corner  of  the  Kaaba,  and  by 
whom  I  was  saved  even  as  the  life  was  departing. 
This  last  directed  him  to  you.  My  efforts  to  put  him 
off  but  whetted  his  desire.  He  would  not  be  diverted 
or  denied.  He  insisted — urged — threatened.  At  last 
I  told  him  all — of  your  joining  us  with  the  Hajj  from 
El  Khatif — your  rank  and  train — your  marches  in 
the  rear — the  hundreds  of  miserables  you  saved  from 
the  plague— of  our  meeting  at  Zaribah,  your  hospi- 
tality, your  learning  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  great- 
est of  the  prophets,  your  wisdom  above  the  wisdom 
of  other  men.  And  you  grew  upon  him  as  I  pro- 
ceeded. '  Oh,  a  good  man  truly ! '  '  What  courage ! ' 
'What  charity!'  'The  Prophet  himself!'  'Oh, 
that  I  had  been  you!'  'O  foolish  Mirza,  to  suffer 
such  a  man  to  escape ! '  With  such  exclamations  he 
kept  breaking  up  my  story.  It  was  not  long  until 
he  fastened  upon  our  meeting  in  the  tent.  He  plied 
me  to  know  of  what  we  talked— what  you  said,  and 
all  you  said.  O  Prince,  if  you  did  but  know  him ; 
if  you  knew  the  soul  possessing  him,  the  intellectual 
things  he  has  mastered,  his  sagacity,  his  art,  his 
will,  his  day-dreams  pursuing  him  in  sleep,  the  deeds 
he  is  prepared  to  do,  the  depth  and  strength  of  his 
passions,  his  admiration  for  heroes,  his  resolve  to 
ring  the  world  with  the  greatness  of  his  name — Oh, 
knew  you  the  man  as  I  do,  were  you  his  lover  as  I 


255 

am,  his  confidant — had  you,  for  teaching  him  to  ride 
and  strike  with  sword  and  spear,  his  promise  of  a 
share  in  the  glory  beckoning  him  on,  making  his 
mighty  expectations  a  part  of  you  even  as  they  are 
of  him,  would  you — ah,  Prince,  could  you  have  with- 
held the  secret  ?  Think  of  the  revelation !  The  old 
East  to  awake,  and  march  against  the  West !  Con- 
stantinople doomed !  And  he  the  leader  for  whom 
the  opportunity  is  waiting !  And  to  call  my  weak- 
ness betrayal !  Unsay  it,  unsay  it,  Prince !  " 

The  face  of  the  auditor  as  Mirza  proceeded  with 
his  defence  would  have  been  a  profitable  study.  He 
saw  himself  succeeding  in  the  purpose  of  his  affected 
severity ;  he  was  drawing  from  Mahommed's  intimate 
the  information  he  most  desired ;  and  thus  advised 
in  advance,  his  role  in  the  interview  coming  would 
be  of  easy  foresight  and  performance.  Not  to  appear 
too  lightly  satisfied,  however,  he  said  gravely,  ' '  I  see 
the  strain  you  underwent,  my  gallant  friend.  I  see 
also  the  earnestness  of  your  affection  for  your  most 
noble  pupil.  He  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  pos- 
session of  a  servant  capable  of  such  discernment  and 
devotion.  But  I  recall  my  question — How  many  are 
there  waiting  for  me  ? " 

"Your  revelations,  O  Prince,  were  imparted  to 
my  master  alone  ;  and  with  such  certainty  as  you 
know  yourself,  you  may  believe  them  at  rest  in  his 
bosom.  No  one  better  than  he  appreciates  the  im- 
portance of  keeping  them  there  under  triple  lock. 
More  than  one  defeat — I  think  he  would  permit  the 
confession — has  taught  him  that  secrecy  is  the  life 
of  every  enterprise." 

"  Say  you  so,  Emir  ?  I  feel  warmth  returning  to 
my  hope.  Nay,  listening  to  you,  and  not  believing 
in  improvised  heroes,  I  see  how  your  course  may 


256 

have  been  for  the  best.  The  years  gone  since  you 
yielded  to  his  importunities,  wisely  used,  have 
doubtless  served  him  providentially." 

The  Prince  extended  his  hand  again,  and  it  was 
ardently  taken  ;  then,  on  his  part,  more  than  pleased, 
Mirza  said,  ' '  I  bring  you  a  message  from  my  Lord 
Mahommed.  I  was  with  him  when  the  Governor 
came  and  delivered  your  ring  to  me — and,  lest  I  for- 
get a  duty,  Prince,  here  it  is — take  it — at  some  future 
time  it  may  be  serviceable  as  to-day." 

"  Yes,  well  thought!  "  the  Jew  exclaimed,  replac- 
ing the  signet  on  his  finger,  and  immediately,  while 
looking  at  the  turquoise  eye,  he  dropped  his  tone  into 
the  solemn,  "  Ay,  the  obligations  of  the  Pentagram 
endure — they  are  like  a  decree  of  God." 

The  words  and  manner  greatly  impressed  Mirza. 

"My  Lord  Mahommed,"  he  said,  "observed  the 
delivery  of  the  ring  to  me  by  the  Governor;  and 
when  we  were  alone,  and  I  had  recounted  the  story 
of  the  jewels,  '  What ! '  my  Lord  cried,  quite  as  trans- 
ported as  myself.  '  That  wonderful  man — he  here — 
here  in  this  Castle !  He  shall  not  escape  me.  Send 
for  him  at  once.  I  brook  no  delay.'  He  stamped 
his  foot.  '  Lest  he  vanish  in  the  storm — go ! '  When 
I  was  at  the  door,  he  bade  me  come  back.  '  The  elder 
man  with  the  white  beard  and  black  eyes,  said  you  ? 
It  were  well  for  me  to  begin  by  consulting  his  com- 
fort. He  may  be  tired,  and  in  want  of  repose ;  his 
accommodations  may  be  insufficient;  wherefore  go 
see  him  first,  and  ascertain  his  state  and  wishes.' 
And  as  I  was  going,  he  summoned  me  to  return 
again.  '  A  moment — stay ! '  he  said.  '  The  circum- 
stance enlarges  with  thought.  Thou  knowestj  Mirza, 
I  did  not  come  here  with  a  special  object;  I  was 
drawn  involuntarily ;  now  I  see  it  was  to  meet  him. 


'257 

It  is  a  doing  of  the  stars.  I  shall  hear  from  them !  * 
O  Prince  " — Mirza's  eyes  sparkled,  and  he  threw  up 
both  his  hands — "  if  ever  man  believed  what  he  said, 
my  master  did." 

"  A  wise  master  truly,"  said  the  Jew,  struggling 
with  his  exultation.  "  What  said  he  next  ? " 

"  '  While  I  am  honoring  their  messenger' — thus 
my  Lord  continued — '  why  not  honor  the  stars  ? 
Their  hour  is  midnight,  for  then  they  are  all  out, 
from  this  horizon  and  that  calling  unto  each  other, 
and  merging  their  influences  into  the  harmony  the 
preachers  call  the  Will  of  the  Most  Merciful.  A 
good  hour  for  the  meeting.  Hear,  Mirza — at  mid- 
night— in  this  room.  Go  now.'  And  so  it  is  ap- 
pointed." 

"And  well  appointed,  Emir." 

"  Shall  I  so  report  ?" 

"  With  my  most  dutiful  protestations.'1' 

"  Look  for  me  then  at  midnight." 

"  I  shall  be  awake,  and  ready." 

"Meantime,  Prince,  I  will  seek  an  apartment  more 
in  correspondence  with  the  degree  of  my  Lord's  most 
honored  guest." 

"Nay,  good  Mirza,  suffer  me  to  advise  in  that 
matter.  The  bringing  me  into  this  place  was  a 
mistake  of  the  Governor's.  He  could  not  divine  the 
merit  I  have  in  youv  master's  eyes.  He  took  me  for 
a  Christian.  I  forgive  him,  and  pray  he  may  not 
be  disturbed.  He  may  be  useful  to  me.  Upon  the 
springing  of  a  mischance — there  is  one  such  this  in- 
stant in  my  mind's  eye — I  may  be  driven  to  come 
back  to  this  Castle.  In  such  an  event,  I  prefer  him 
my  servant  rather  than  my  enemy." 

"O  Prince!" 

"Nay,  Emir,  the  idea  is  only  a  suggestion  of  one 
17 


of  the  Prophets  whom  Allah  stations  at  the  turns  in 
every  man's  career. " 

"  But  every  man  cannot  see  the  Prophets." 

The  Jew  finished  gravely:  "Bather  than  dis- 
turb the  Governor  further,  soothe  him  for  me ;  and 
when  the  Lord  Mahommed  goes  hence,  do  thou  see 
an  instruction  is  left  putting  the  Castle  and  its  chief 
at  my  order.  Also,  as  thou  art  a  grateful  friend, 
Mirza,  serve  me  by  looking  into  the  kettles  out  of 
which  we  are  to  have  our  refreshment,  and  order 
concerning  them  as  for  thyself.  I  feel  a  stir  of 
appetite." 

The  Emir  backed  from  the  apartment,  leaving  a 
low  salaam  just  outside  the  door. 

If  the  reader  thinks  the  Prince  content  now,  he  is 
not  mistaken.  True  he  paced  the  floor  long  and 
rapidly  ;  but,  feeling  himself  close  upon  a  turn  in 
his  course,  he  was  making  ready  for  it  perfectly  as 
possible  by  consulting  the  Prophet  whom  he  saw 
waiting  there. 

And  as  the  Lord  Mahommed  failed  not  to  remem- 
ber them  what  time  he  betook  himself  to  supper,  the 
three  guests  up  in  the  prison  fared  well,  nor  cared 
for  the  howling  of  the  wind,  and  the  bursting  and 
beating  of  the  rain  still  rioting  without  the  walls. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MAHOMMED   HEARS   FROM   THE   STARS 

THE  second  recall  of  the  Emir  Mirza  departing 
with  the  appointment  for  the  Prince  of  India  was 
remarkable,  considering  Mahommed's  usual  quick- 
ness of  conclusion  and  steadiness  of  purpose;  and 
the  accounting  for  it  is  noteworthy. 

So  completely  had  the  young  Turk  been  taken  up 
by  study  and  military  service  that  leisure  for  love 
had  been  denied  him;  else  he  either  despised  the 
passion  or  had  never  met  a  woman  to  catch  his 
fancy  and  hold  it  seriously. 

We  have  seen  him  make  the  White  Castle  by  hard 
galloping  before  the  bursting  of  the  storm.  While 
at  the  gate,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  reception  there, 
the  boats  were  reported  making  all  speed  to  the  river 
landing;  and  not  wishing  his  presence  at  the  Castle 
to  be  known  in  Constantinople,  he  despatched  an 
under  officer  to  seize  the  voyagers,  and  detain  them 
until  he  had  crossed  the  Bosphorus  en  route  to 
Adrianople.  However,  directly  the  officer  brought 
back  the  spirited  message  of  the  Princess  Irene  to 
the  Governor  of  the  Castle,  his  mind  underwent  a 
change. 

"What,"  he  asked,  "sayst  thou  the  woman  is 
akin  to  the  Emperor  Constantine  ? " 

"Such  is  her  claim,  my  Lord,  and  she  looks  it." 

"  Is  she  old?  " 


260 

"Young,  my  Lord — not  more  than  twenty." 

Mahommed  addressed  the  Governor: 

"Stay  thou  here.  I  will  take  thy  office,  and  wait 
upon  this  Princess." 

Dismounting,  then,  in  the  capacity  of  Governor 
of  the  Castle,  he  hastened  to  the  landing,  curious  as 
well  as  desirous  of  offering  refuge  to  the  noble  lady. 

He  saw  her  first  a  short  way  off,  and  was  struck 
with  her  composed  demeanor.  During  the  discus- 
sion of  his  tender  of  hospitality,  her  face  was  in  fair 
view,  and  it  astonished  him.  When  finally  she 
stepped  from  the  hoat,  her  form,  delicately  observ- 
able under  the  rich  and  graceful  drapery,  and  so 
exquisitely  in  correspondence  with  her  face,  still 
further  charmed  him. 

Before  the  chairs  were  raised,  he  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  Castle  with  orders  to  place  everybody  in 
hiding,  and  for  his  Kislar-Aga,  or  chief  eunuch,  to 
be  in  the  passage  of  entrance  to  receive  and  take 
charge  of  the  kinswoman  of  the  Emperor  and  her 
attendant.  By  a  further  order  the  Governor  proper 
was  directed  to  vacate  his  harem  apartments  for  her 
accommodation . 

In  the  Castle,  after  the  Princess  had  been  thus 
disposed  of,  the  impression  she  made  upon  him 
increased. 

"She  is  so  high-born ! — so  beautiful ! — She  has  such 
spirit  and  mind! — She  is  so  calm  under  trial — so 
courageous — so  decorous — so  used  to  courtly  life ! " 

Such  exclamations  attested  the  unwonted  ferment 
going  on  in  his  mind.  Gradually,  as  tints  under 
the  brush  of  a  skilful  painter  lose  themselves  in  one 
effect,  his  undefined  ideas  took  form. 

' '  O  Allah !    What  a  Sultana  for  a  hero ! " 

And  by  repetition  this  ran  on  into  what  may  be 


261 

termed  the  chorus  of  a  love  song — the  very  first  of 
the  kind  his  soul  had  ever  sung. 

Such  was  Mahommed's  state  when  Mirza  received 
the  turquoise  ring,  and,  announcing  the  Prince  of 
India,  asked  for  orders.  Was  it  strange  he  changed 
his  mind  ?  Indeed  he  was  at  the  moment  determin- 
ing to  see  again  the  woman  who  had  risen  upon  him 
like  a  moon  above  a  lake;  so,  directly  he  had  de- 
spatched the  Emir  to  the  Prince  of  India  with  the 
appointment  for  midnight,  he  sent  for  an  Arab  Sheik 
of  his  suite,  arrayed  himself  in  the  latter's  best  habit, 
and  stained  his  hands,  neck,  and  face — turned  him- 
self, in  brief,  into  the  story-teller  whom  we  have  seen 
admitted  to  amuse  the  Princess  Irene. 

At  midnight,  sharply  as  the  hour  could  be  deter- 
mined by  the  uncertain  appliances  resorted  to  by  the 
inmates  of  the  Castle,  Mirza  appeared  at  his  master's 
door  with  the  mystical  Indian,  and,  passing  the  sen- 
tinel there,  knocked  like  one  knowing  himself  im- 
patiently awaited.  A  voice  bade  them  enter. 

The  young  Turk,  upon  their  entrance,  arose  from 
a  couch  of  many  cushions  prepared  for  him  under  a 
canopy  in  the  centre  of  the  room. 

"This,  my  Lord,  is  the  Prince  of  India,"  said 
Mirza ;  then,  almost  without  pause,  he  turned  to  the 
supposed  Indian,  and  added  more  ceremoniously: 
"Be  thou  happy,  O  Prince!  The  East  hath  not 
borne  a  son  so  worthy  to  take  the  flower  from  the 
tomb  of  Saladin,  and  wear  it,  as  my  master  here — 
the  Lord  Mahommed." 

Then,  his  duty  done,  the  Emir  retired. 

Mahommed  was  in  the  garb  used  indoors  imme- 
morially  by  his  race — sharply  pointed  slippers,  im- 
mense trousers  gathered  at  the  ankles,  a  yellow 
quilted  gown  dropping  below  the  knees,  and  a  tur- 


ban  of  balloon  shape,  its  interfolding  stayed  by  an 
aigrette  of  gold  and  diamonds.  His  head  was  shaven 
up  to  the  edge  of  the  turban,  so  that,  the  light  falling 
from  a  cluster  of  lamps  in  suspension  from  the  ceiling, 
every  feature  was  in  plain  exposure.  Looking  into 
the  black  eyes  scarcely  shaded  by  the  upraised  arch- 
ing brows,  the  Prince  of  India  saw  them  sparkle  with 
invitation  and  pleasure,  and  was  himself  satisfied. 

He  advanced,  and  saluted  by  falling  upon  his 
knees,  and  kissing  the  back  of  his  hands  laid  palm 
downward  on  the  floor.  Mahommed  raised  him  to 
his  feet. 

"Rise,  O  Prince!"  he  said — "rise,  and  come  sit 
with  me." 

From  behind  the  couch,  the  Turk  dragged  a  chair 
of  ample  seat,  railed  around  except  at  the  front,  and 
provided  with  a  cushion  of  camel's  hair — a  chair 
such  as  teachers  in  the  Mosques  use  when  expound- 
ing to  their  classes.  This  he  placed  so  while  he  sat 
on  the  couch  the  visitor  would  be  directly  before 
him,  and  but  little  removed.  Soon  the  two  were 
sitting  cross-legged  face  to  face. 

"A  man  devout  as  the  Prince  of  India  is  reported 
to  me,"  Mahommed  began,  in  a  voice  admirably  sec- 
onding the  respectful  look  he  fixed  upon  the  other, 
"  must  be  of  the  rightly  guided,  who  believe  in  God 
and  the  Last  Day,  and  observe  prayer,  and  pay  the 
alms,  and  dread  none  but  God — who  therefore  of 
right  frequent  the  temples." 

"  Your  words,  my  Lord,  are  those  of  the  veritable 
messenger  of  the  most  high  Heaven,"  the  Wan- 
derer responded,  bending  forward  as  if  about  to  per- 
form a  prostration.  "I  recognize  them,  and  they 
give  me  the  sensation  of  being  in  a  garden  of  per- 
petual abode,  with  a  river  running  beneath  it." 


263 

Mahommed,  perceiving  the  quotation  from  the 
Koran,  bent  low  in  turn,  saying:  "It  is  good  to 
hear  you,  for  as  I  listen  I  say  to  myself,  This  one  is 
of  the  servants  of  the  Merciful  who  are  to  walk  upon 
the  earth  softly.  I  accost  you  in  advance,  Wel- 
come and  Peace." 

After  a  short  silence,  he  continued :  "A  frequenter 
of  mosques,  you  will  see,  O  Prince,  I  have  put  you 
in  the  teacher's  place.  I  am  the  student.  Yours  to 
open  the  hook  and  read ;  mine  to  catch  the  pearls  of 
your  saying,  lest  they  fall  in  the  dust,  and  be  lost." 

"I  fear  my  Lord  does  me  honor  overmuch;  yet 
there  is  a  beauty  in  willingness  even  where  one  can- 
not meet  expectation.  Of  what  am  I  to  speak  ? " 

Mahommed  knit  his  brows,  and  asked  imperiously, 
' '  Who  art  thou  ?  Of  that  tell  me  first. " 

Happily  for  the  Prince,  he  had  anticipated  this 
demand,  and,  being  intensely  watchful,  was  ready 
for  it,  and  able  to  reply  without  blenching :  ' '  The 
Emir  introduced  me  rightly.  I  am  a  Prince  of  India. '' 

"  Now  of  thy  life  something." 

"  My  Lord's  request  is  general — perhaps  he  framed 
it  with  design.  Left  thus  to  my  own  judgment,  I 
will  be  brief,  and  choose  from  the  mass  of  my  life." 

There  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  discomposure 
discernible  in  the  look  or  tone  of  the  speaker;  his 
air  was  more  than  obliging — he  seemed  to  be  respond- 
ing to  a  compliment. 

"I  began  walk  as  a  priest — a  disciple  of  Siddhar- 
tha,  whom  my  Lord,  of  his  great  intelligence,  will 
remember  as  born  in  Central  India.  Very  early,  on 
account  of  my  skill  in  translation,  I  was  called  to 
China,  and  there  put  to  rendering  the  Thirty-five 
Discourses  of  the  father  of  the  Budhisattwa  into  Chi- 
nese and  Thibettan.  I  also  published  a  version  of 


264 

the  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,  and  another  of  the 
Nirvana.  These  brought  me  a  great  honor.  To  an 
ancestor  of  mine,  Maha  Kashiapa,  Buddha  happened 
to  have  intrusted  his  innermost  mysteries — that  is, 
he  made  him  Keeper  of  the  Pure  Secret  of  the  Eye  of 
Right  Doctrine.  Behold  the  symbol  of  that  doctrine. " 

The  Prince  drew  a  leaf  of  ivory,  worn  and  yellow, 
from  a  pocket  under  his  pelisse,  and  passed  it  to 
Mahommed,  saying,  "  Will  my  lord  look  ?  " 

Mahommed  took  the  leaf,  and  in  the  silver  sunk 
into  it  saw  this  sign : 


"  I  see,"  he  said,  gravely.    "  Give  me  its  meaning." 

"  Nay,  my  Lord,  did  I  that,  the  doctrine  of  which, 
as  successor  of  Kashiapa,  though  far  removed,  they 
made  me  Keeper — the  very  highest  of  Buddhistic 
honors — would  then  be  no  longer  a  secret.  The 
symbol  is  of  vast  sanctity.  There  is  never  a  genu- 
ine image  of  Buddha  without  it  over  his  heart.  It 
is  the  monogram  of  Vishnu  and  Siva ;  but  as  to  its 
meaning,  I  can  only  say  every  Brahman  of  learning 
views  it  worshipfully,  knowing  it  the  compression 
of  the  whole  mind  of  Buddha." 

Mahommed  respected  the  narrator's  compunction, 
and  returned  the  symbol,  saying  simply,  "I  have 
heard  of  such  things." 

"  To  pursue,"  the  Prince  then  said,  confident  of  the 
impression  he  was  producing  :  "  At  length  I  returned 
to  my  own  country  enriched  beyond  every  hope.  A 
disposition  to  travel  seized  me.  One  day,  passing  the 
desert  to  Baalbec,  some  Bedouin  made  me  prisoner, 
and  carrying  me  to  Mecca,  sold  me  to  the  Scherif 
there ;  a  good  man  who  respected  my  misfortune  and 


265 

learning — may  the  youths  ever  going  in  Paradise  for- 
get not  his  cup  of  flowing  wine ! — and  wrought  with 
me  over  the  Book  of  the  One  God  until  I  became  a 
believer  like  himself.  Then,  as  I  had  exchanged  the 
hope  of  Nirvana  for  the  better  and  surer  hope  of  Is- 
lam, he  set  me  free.  .  .  .  Again  in  my  -native 
land,  I  betook  myself  to  astrologic  studies,  being  the 
more  inclined  thereto  by  reason  of  the  years  I  had 
spent  in  contemplating  the  abstrusities  of  Siddhartha. 
I  became  an  adept — something,  as  my  Lord  may 
already  know,  impossible  to  such  as  go  about  un- 
knowing the  whole  earth  and  heavens,  and  the  pow- 
ers superior,  those  of  the  sky,  and  those  lesser,  mean- 
ing Kings,  Emperors,  and  Sultans." 

"How  !"  exclaimed  Mahommed.  "Is  not  every 
astrologer  an  adept  ? " 

The  Prince  answered  softly,  seeing  the  drift  was 
toward  the  professor  in  the  young  Turk's  service. 
"There  is  always  a  better  until  we  reach  the  best. 
Even  the  stars  differ  from  each  other  in  degree." 

"  But  how  may  a  man  know  the  superior  powers  ?  " 

"The  sum  of  the  observations  kept  by  the  wise 
through  the  ages,  and  recorded  by  them,  is  a  legacy 
for  the  benefit  of  the  chosen  few.  Had  my  Lord  the 
taste,  and  were  he  not  already  devoted  by  destiny,  I 
could  take  him  to  a  college  where  what  is  now  so 
curious  to  him  is  simple  reading." 

The  hard  and  doubting  expression  on  Mahommed's 
face  began  to  soften,  yet  he  persisted:  "Knowing 
the  superior,  why  is  it  needful  to  know  the  inferior 
powers  ? " 

"My  Lord  trenches  now  upon  the  forbidden,  yet  I 
will  answer  as  his  shrewdness  deserves.  Never  man 
heard  from  the  stars  in  direct  speech — that  were  al- 
most like  words  with  God.  But  as  they  are  servants, 

18 


266 

they  also  have  servants.  Moreover  what  we  have 
from  them  is  always  in  answer.  They  love  to  be 
sought  after  by  the  diligent.  Some  ages  ago  an  adept 
seeking  this  and  that  of  them  conjecturally,  had  re- 
ply, 'Lo!  a  tribe  of  poor  wanderers  in  the  East. 
Heed  them,  for  they  shall  house  their  dominion  in 
palaces  now  the  glory  of  the  West,  and  they  shall 
dig  the  pit  to  compass  the  fall  of  the  proud.1  Is  it 
this  tribe  ?  Is  it  that  ?  But  the  seeker  never  knew. 
The  children  of  Ertoghrul  were  yet  following  their 
herds  up  and  down  the  pastures  they  had  from  Ala- 
ed-din,  the  Iconian.  Not  knowing  their  name,  he 
could  not  ask  of  them  from  the  decree-makers  ? " 

The  Mystic  beheld  the  blood  redden  Mahommed's 
open  countenance,  and  the  brightening  of  his  eyes; 
and  as  he  was  speaking  to  his  pride,  he  knew  he  was 
not  amiss. 

"  The  say  ing  of  the  stars,"  he  went  on,  "descended 
to  succeeding  adepts.  Time  came  to  their  aid.  When 
at  length  your  fathers  seated  themselves  in  Broussa, 
the  mystery  was  in  part  revealed.  Anybody,  even 
the  low-browed  herdsman  shivering  in  the  currents 
blowing  from  the  Trojan  heights,  could  then  have 
named  the  fortunate  tribe.  Still  the  exposure  was 
not  complete ;  a  part  remained  for  finding  out.  We 
knew  the  diggers  of  the  pit ;  but  for  whom  was  it  ? 
To  this  I  devoted  myself.  Hear  me  closely  now — 
my  Lord,  I  have  traversed  the  earth,  not  once,  but 
many  times — so  often,  you  cannot  name  a  people 
unknown  to  me,  nor  a  land  whither  I  have  not  been 
— no,  nor  an  island.  As  the  grandson  of  Abd-el- 
Muttalib  was  a  Messenger  of  God,  I  am  a  Messenger 
of  the  Predicting  Stars — not  their  prophet,  only  their 
Interpreter  and  Messenger.  The  business  of  the  stars 
is  my  business." 


267 

Mahommed's  lips  moved,  and  it  was  with  an  effort 
he  kept  silent. 

The  Prince  proceeded,  apparently  unconscious  of 
the  interest  he  was  exciting :  ' '  Here  and  there  while 
I  travelled,  I  kept  communication  with  the  planets; 
and  though  I  had  many  of  their  predictions  to  solve, 
I  asked  them  oftenest  after  the  unnamed  proud  one 
for  whom  thy  Ottomanites  were  charged  to  dig  a  pit. 
I  presented  names  without  number — names  of  per- 
sons, names  of  peoples,  and  lest  one  should  be  over- 
looked, I  kept  a  record  of  royal  and  notable  families. 
Was  a  man-child  born  to  any  of  them,  I  wrote  down 
the  minute  of  the  hour  of  his  birth,  and  how  he  was 
called.  By  visitations,  I  kept  informed  of  the  various 
countries,  their  conditions,  and  their  relations  with 
each  other ;  for  as  the  state  of  the  earth  points  favor- 
ably or  unfavorably  to  its  vegetation,  so  do  the  condi- 
tions of  nations  indicate  the  approach  of  changes,  and 
give  encouragement  to  those  predestined  to  bring  the 
changes  about.  Again  I  say,  my  Lord,  as  the  stars 
are  the  servants  of  God,  they  have  their  servants, 
whom  you  shall  never  know  except  as  you  are  able 
to  read  the  signs  their  times  offer  you  for  reading. 
Moreover  the  servants  are  sometimes  priests,  some- 
times soldiers,  sometimes  kings;  among  them  have 
been  women,  and  men  of  common  origin;  for  the 
seed  of  genius  falls  directly  from  God's  hand,  and 
He  chooses  the  time  and  field  for  the  sowing;  but 
whether  high  or  low,  white  or  black,  good  or  bad, 
how  shall  a  Messenger  interpret  truly  for  the  stars 
except  by  going  before  their  elect,  and  introducing 
them,  and  making  their  paths  smooth  ?  Must  he  not 
know  them  first  ?  " 

A  mighty  impulsion  here  struck  Mahommed. 
Recurring  rather  to  what  he  had  heard  from  Mirza 


of  the  revelation  dropped  by  the  strange  person  met 
by  him  during  the  pilgrimage,  he  felt  himself  about 
to  be  declared  of  the  elect,  and  unable  to  control  his 
eagerness,  he  asked  abruptly : 

"  Knowest  thou  me,  O  Prince  ?" 

The  manner  of  the  Mystic  underwent  a  change. 
He  had  been  deferential,  even  submissive;  seldom  a 
teacher  so  amiable  and  unmasterf ul ;  now  he  concen- 
trated his  power  of  spirit,  and  shot  it  a  continuing 
flash  from  his  large  eyes. 

"Know  thee,  Lord  Mahommed  ? "  he  answered,  in 
a  low  voice,  but  cleai*  and  searching,  and  best  suited 
to  the  conflict  he  was  ushering  in — the  conflict  of 
spirit  and  spirit.  "Thou  knowest  not  thyself  as 
well." 

Mahommed  shrank  perceptibly — he  was  aston- 
ished. 

"  I  mean  not  reference  to  thy  father — nor  to  the 
Christian  Princess,  thy  mother, — nor  to  thy  history, 
which  is  of  an  obedient  son  and  brave  soldier, — nor 
to  thy  education,  unusual  in  those  born  inheritors  of 
royal  power — I  mean  none  of  these,  for  they  are  in 
mouths  everywhere,  even  of  the  beggars  nursing 
their  sores  by  the  waysides.  ...  In  thy  father's 
palace  there  was  a  commotion  one  night — thou  wert 
about  to  be  born.  A  gold-faced  clock  stood  in  the 
birth  chamber,  the  gift  of  a  German  King,  and  from 
the  door  of  the  chamber  eunuchs  were  stationed. 
Exactly  as  the  clock  proclaimed  midnight,  mouth 
and  mouth  carried  the  cry  to  a  man  on  the  roof — '  A 
Prince  is  born !  A  Prince  is  born !  Praised  be  Allah ! ' 
He  on  the  roof  was  seated  at  a  table  studying  a  paper 
with  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac  in  the  usual  formulary 
of  a  nativity.  At  the  coming  of  the  cry,  he  arose, 
and  observed  the  heavens  intently ;  then  he  shouted, 


909 

'  There  is  no  God  but  God !  Lo,  Mars,  Lord  of  the 
Ascendant — Mars,  with  his  friends,  Saturn,  Venus, 
and  Jupiter  in  happy  configuration,  and  the  moon 
nowhere  visible.  Hail  the  Prince ! '  And  while  his 
answer  was  passing  below,  the  man  on  the  roof 
marked  the  planets  in  their  Houses  exactly  as  they 
were  that  midnight  between  Monday  and  Tuesday 
in  the  year  1430.  Have  I  in  aught  erred,  my  lord  ? " 

"  In  nothing,  O  Prince." 

"Then  I  proceed.  .  .  .  The  nativity  came  to 
me,  and  I  cast  and  recast  it  for  the  aspects,  familiar- 
ities, parallels  and  triplicities  of  the  hour,  and  always 
with  the  same  result.  I  found  the  sun,  the  angles  and 
the  quality  of  the  ambient  signs  favorable  to  a  career 
which,  when  run,  is  to  leave  the  East  radiant  with 
the  glory  of  an  unsetting  sun." 

Here  the  Jew  paused,  and  bowed — "  Now  doth  my 
Lord  doubt  if  I  know  him  best  ? " 


CHAPTER  XIV 
DREAMS  AND  VISIONS 

MAHOMMED  sat  awhile  in  deep  abstraction,  his  face 
flushed,  his  hands  working  nervously  in  their  own 
clasp.  The  subject  possessing  him  was  very  pleas- 
urable. How  could  it  be  else  ? 

On  his  side  the  Prince  waited  deferentially,  but 
very  observant.  He  was  confident  of  the  impression 
made ;  he  even  thought  he  could  follow  the  young 
Turk's  reflections  point  by  point ;  still  it  was  wisest 
to  let  him  alone,  for  the  cooling  time  of  the  sober 
second  thought  would  come,  and  then  how  much 
better  if  there  were  room  for  him  to  believe  the 
decision  his  own. 

"  It  is  very  well,  Prince,"  Mahommed  said,  finally, 
struggling  to  keep  down  every  sign  of  excitement. 
"  I  had  accounts  of  you  from  Mirza  the  Emu-,  and  it 
is  the  truth,  which  neither  of  us  will  be  the  worse 
of  knowing,  that  I  see  nothing  of  disagreement  in 
what  he  told  me,  and  in  what  you  now  tell  me  of 
yourself.  The  conceptions  I  formed  of  you  are  justi- 
fied ;  you  are  learned  and  of  great  experience ;  you 
are  a  good  man  given  to  charity  as  the  Prophet  has 
ordered,  and  a  believer  in  God.  At  various  times  in 
the  world's  history,  if  we  may  trust  the  writers,  great 
men  have  had  their  greatness  foretold  them ;  now  if 
I  think  myself  in  the  way  of  addition  to  the  list  of 


an 

those  so  fortunate,  it  is  because  I  put  faith  in  you  as 
in  a  friendly  Prophet." 

At  this  the  Prince  threw  up  both  hands. 

"Friendly  am  I,  my  lord,  more  than  friendly, 
but  not  a  Prophet.  I  am  only  a  Messenger,  an  In- 
terpreter of  the  Superior  Powers." 

Much  he  feared  the  demands  upon  him  if  he  per- 
mitted the  impression  that  he  was  a  Prophet  to  go 
uncontradicted ;  as  an  astrologer,  he  could  in  need 
thrust  the  stars  between  him  and  the  unreasonable. 
And  his  judgment  was  quickly  affirmed. 

' '  As  you  will,  O  Prince, "  said  Mahommed.  ' '  Mes- 
senger, interpreter,  prophet,  whichsoever  pleases  you, 
the  burden  of  what  you  bring  me  is  nevertheless  of 
chiefest  account.  Comes  a  herald,  we  survey  him, 
and  ask  voucher  for  his  pretensions;  are  we  satisfied 
with  them,  why  then  he  gives  place  in  our  interest, 
and  becomes  secondary  to  the  matter  he  bears.  Is 
it  not  so  ? " 

"It  is  righteously  said,  my  Lord." 

"And  when  I  take  up  this  which  you  have  brought 
me  " — Mahommed  laid  a  hand  upon  his  throat  as  if 
in  aid  of  the  effort  he  was  making  to  keep  calm  and 
talk  with  dignity — "I  cannot  deny  its  power;  for 
when  was  there  an  imaginative  young  man  who 
first  permitted  ambition  and  love  of  glory  to  build 
golden  palaces  for  their  abiding  in  his  heart,  with 
self-control  to  stop  his  ears  to  promises  apparently 
from  Heaven  ?  O  Prince,  if  you  are  indeed  my 
friend,  you  will  not  laugh  at  me  when  you  are 
alone !  .  .  .  Moreover  I  would  not  you  should  be- 
lieve your  tidings  received  carelessly  or  as  a  morsel 
sweet  on  my  tongue ;  but  as  wine  warms  the  blood 
coursing  to  the  brain,  it  has  started  inquiries  and 
anxieties  you  alone  can  allay.  And  first,  the  great 


272 

glory  whose  running  is  to  fill  the  East,  like  an  un. 
setting  sun,  tell  me  of  it ;  for,  as  we  all  know,  glory 
is  of  various  kinds ;  there  is  one  kind  reserved  for 
poets,  orators,  and  professors  cunning  in  the  arts, 
and  another  for  cheer  of  such  as  find  delight  in 
swords  and  bossy  shields,  and  armor  well  bedight, 
and  in  horses,  and  who  exult  in  battle,  and  in  set- 
ting armies  afield,  in  changing  boundary  lines,  and 
in  taking  rest  and  giving  respite  in  the  citadels  of 
towns  happily  assaulted.  And  as  of  these  the  regard 
is  various,  tell  me  the  kind  mine  is  to  be. " 

"  The  stars  speak  not  doubtfully,  my  Lord.  When 
Mars  rises  ascendant  in  either  of  his  Houses,  they  that 
moment  born  are  devoted  to  war,  and,  have  they  their 
bent,  they  shall  be  soldiers ;  nor  soldiers  merely,  but 
as  the  conjunctions  are  good,  conquerors,  and  for. 
tunate,  and  Samael,  his  angel,  becomes  their  angel. 
Has  my  Lord  ever  seen  his  nativity  ? " 

"Yes." 

"Then  he  knows  whereof  I  speak." 

Mahommed  nodded  affirmatively,  and  said,  "The 
fame  is  to  my  taste,  doubt  not;  but,  Prince,  were 
thy  words  duly  weighed,  then  my  glory  is  to  be 
surpassing.  Now,  I  am  of  a  line  of  heroes.  Oth- 
man,  the  founder ;  Orchan,  father  of  the  Janissaries ; 
Solyman,  who  accepted  the  crescent  moon  seen  in  a 
dream  by  the  sea  at  Cyzicus  as  Allah's  bidding  to 
pass  the  Hellespont  to  Tzympe  in  Europe ;  Amurath, 
conqueror  of  Adrianople ;  Bajazet,  who  put  an  end 
to  Christian  crusading  in  the  field  of  Nicopolis — 
these  filled  the  East  with  their  separate  renowns; 
and  my  father  Amurath,  did  he  not  subdue  Huny- 
ades  ?  Yet,  Prince,  you  tell  me  my  glory  is  to 
transcend  theirs.  Now — because  I  am  ready  to  be- 
lieve you — say  if  it  is  to  burst  upon  me  suddenly 


273 

or  to  signalize  a  long  career.  The  enjoyment  of  in* 
mortality  won  in  youth  must  be  a  pleasant  thing." 

"  I  cannot  answer,  my  Lord." 

"Cannot?" 

And  Mahommed's  eagerness  came  near  getting  the 
better  of  his  will. 

' '  I  have  nothing  from  the  stars  by  which  to  speak, 
and  I  dare  not  assume  to  reply  for  myself." 

Then  Mahommed's  eyes  became  severely  bright, 
and  the  bones  of  his  hands  shone  white  through  the 
skin,  so  hard  did  he  compress  them. 

"How  long  am  I  to  wait  before  the  glory  you 
promise  me  ripens  ready  for  gathering  ?  If  it  re- 
quires long  campaigns,  shall  I  summon  the  armies 
now  ? " 

A  tone,  a  stress  of  voice  in  the  question  sent  a 
shiver  through  the  Prince  despite  his  self-command. 
His  gaze  upon  Mahommed's  countenance,  already 
settled,  intensified,  and  almost  before  the  last  word 
passed  he  saw  the  idea  he  was  expected  to  satisfy, 
and  that  it  was  the  point  to  which  his  interrogator 
had  been  really  tending  from  the  commencement  of 
the  interview.  To  gain  a  moment,  he  affected  not 
to  clearly  understand ;  after  a  repetition,  he  in  turn 
asked,  with  a  meaning  look :  . 

"Is  not  thy  father,  O  Prince,  now  in  his  eighty- 
fifth  year  ? " 

Mahommed  leaned  further  forward. 

"And  is  it  not  eight  and  twenty  years  since  he 
began  reigning  wisely  and  well  ? " 

Mahommed  nodded  assent. 

"  Suffer  me  to  answer  now.  Besides  his  age  which 
pleads  for  him,  your  father  has  not  allowed  great- 
ness and  power  to  shade  the  love  he  gave  you  heartily 
the  hour  he  first  took  you  in  his  arms.  Nature  pro- 
18 


274 

tests  against  his  cutting  off,  and  in  this  instance,  O 
Prince,  the  voice  of  Nature  is  the  voice  of  Allah.  So 
say  I  speaking  for  myself." 

Mahommed's  face  relaxed  its  hardness,  and  he 
moved  and  breathed  freely  while  replying:  "I  do 
not  know  what  the  influences  require  of  me." 

"  Speak  you  of  the  stars,  my  Lord,"  the  other  re- 
turned, "  hear  me,  and  with  distinctness.  As  yet 
they  have  intrusted  me  with  the  one  prediction,  and 
that  you  have.  In  other  words,  they  are  committed 
to  a  horoscope  based  upon  your  nativity,  and  from 
it  your  glory  has  been  rightly  delivered.  So  much 
is  permitted  us  by  the  astrologic  law  we  practise. 
But  this  now  asked  me,  a  circumstance  in  especial, 
appertains  to  you  as  chief  of  forces  not  yet  yours. 
Wherefore — heed  well,  my  Lord — I  advise  you  to 
make  note  of  the  minute  of  the  hour  of  the  day  you 
gird  yourself  with  the  sword  of  sovereignty  which,  at 
this  speaking,  is  your  great  father's  by  sanction  of 
Heaven ;  then  will  I  cast  a  horoscope  for  Mahommed 
the  Sultan,  not  Mahommed,  son  of  Amurath  merely 
— then,  by  virtue  of  my  office  of  Interpreter  of  the 
Stars,  having  the  proper  writing  in  my  hand,  I  will 
tell  you  this  you  now  seek,  together  with  all  else 
pertaining  to  your  sovereignty  intrusted  me  for 
communicatioiv.  I  will  tell  you  when  the  glory  is 
open  to  you,  and  the  time  for  setting  forward  to 
make  it  yours — even  the  dawning  of  the  term  of 
preparation  necessarily  precedent  to  the  movement 
itself.  Now  am  I  understood  ?  Will  my  Lord  tell 
me  I  am  understood  ?  " 

An  observation  here  may  not  be  amiss.  The  reader 
will  of  course  notice  the  clever  obtrusion  of  the  stars 
in  the  speech ;  yet  its  real  craft  was  in  the  reserva 
tions  covered.  Presuming  it  possible  for  the  Prince 


875 

to  have  fixed  a  time  to  Mahommed's  satisfaction,  tell- 
ing it  would  have  been  like  giving  away  the  meat  of 
an  apple,  and  retaining  the  rind.  The  wise  man  who 
sets  out  to  make  himself  a  need  to  another  will  care- 
fully husband  his  capital.  Moreover  it  is  of  impor- 
tance to  keep  in  mind  through  this  period  of  our 
story  that  with  the  Prince  of  India  everything  was 
subsidiary  to  his  scheme  of  unity  in  God.  To  which 
end  it  was  not  enough  to  be  a  need  to  Mahommed ; 
he  must  also  bring  the  young  potentate  to  wait  upon 
him  for  the  signal  to  begin  the  movement  against 
Constantinople;  for  such  in  simplicity  was  the  de- 
sign scarcely  concealed  under  the  glozing  of  "the 
East  against  the  West. "  That  is  to  say,  until  he  knew 
Constantine's  disposition  with  respect  to  the  super- 
lative project,  his  policy  was  delay.  What,  in  illus- 
tration, if  the  Emperor  proved  a  friend  ?  In  falconry 
the  hawk  is  carried  into  the  field  hooded,  and  cast 
off  only  when  the  game  is  flushed.  So  the  Prince  of 
India  thought  as  he  concluded  his  speech,  and  looked 
at  the  handsome  face  of  the  Lord  Mahommed. 

The  latter  was  disappointed,  and  showed  it.  He 
averted  his  eyes,  knit  his  brows,  and  took  a  little 
time  before  answering ;  then  a  flash  of  passion  seized 
him. 

"With  all  thy  wisdom,  Prince,  thou  knowest  not 
how  hard  waiting  will  be.  There  is  nothing  in  Nat- 
ure sweeter  than  glory,  and  on  the  other  hand  noth- 
ing so  intolerably  bitter  as  hungering  for  it  when  it 
is  in  open  prospect.  What  irony  in  the  providence 
which  permits  us  to  harvest  greatness  in  the  days  of 
our  decline !  I  dream  of  it  for  my  youth,  for  then 
most  can  be  made  of  it.  There  was  a  Greek — not  of 
the  Byzantine  breed  in  the  imperial  kennel  yonder  " 
— he  emphasized  the  negative  with  a  contemptuous 


276 

glance  in  the  direction  of  Constantinople — "a  Greek 
of  the  old  time  of  real  heroes,  he  who  has  the  first 
place  in  history  as  a  conqueror.  Think  you  he  was 
happy  because  he  owned  the  world  ?  Delight  in 
property  merely,  a  horse,  a  palace,  a  ship,  a  kingdom, 
is  vulgar ;  any  man  can  be  owner  of  something ;  the 
beggar  polishes  his  crutch  for  the  same  reason  the 
king  gilds  his  throne — it  belongs  to  him.  Posses- 
sion means  satiety.  But  achieve  thou  immortality 
in  thy  first  manhood,  and  it  shall  remain  to  thee  as 
the  ring  to  a  bride  or  as  his  bride  to  the  bridegroom. 
— Let  it  be  as  you  say.  I  bow  to  the  stars.  Between 
me  and  the  sovereignty  my  father  stands,  a  good  man 
to  whom  I  give  love  for  love ;  and  he  shall  not  be 
disturbed  by  me  or  any  of  mine.  In  so  far  I  will 
honor  your  advice;  and  in  the  other  matter  also, 
there  shall  be  one  ready  to  note  the  minute  of  the 
hour  the  succession  falls  to  me.  But  what  if  then 
you  are  absent  ?  " 

' '  A  word  from  my  Lord  will  bring  me  to  him ;  and 
His  Majesty  is  liable  to  go  after  his  fathers  at  any 
moment " — 

"  Ay,  and  alas!  "  Mahommed  interposed,  with  un- 
affected sorrow,  "a  king  may  keep  his  boundaries 
clean,  and  even  extend  them  thitherward  from  the 
centre,  and  be  a  fear  unto  men;  yet  shall  death 
oblige  him  at  last.  All  is  from  God." 

The  Prince  was  courtier  enough  to  respect  the 
feeling  evinced. 

"But  I  interrupted  you,"  Mahommed  presently 
added.  "  I  pray  pardon." 

"I  was  about  to  say,  my  Lord,  if  I  am  not  with 
you  when  His  Majesty,  your  father,  bows  to  the  final 
call — for  the  entertainment  of  such  was  Paradise  set 
upon  its  high  hill ! — let  a  messenger  seek  me  in  Con- 


377 

stantinople ;  and  it  may  even  serve  well  if  the  Gover- 
nor of  this  Castle  be  instructed  to  keep  his  gates  always 
open  to  me,  and  himself  obedient  to  my  requests." 

"A  good  suggestion !    I  will  attend  to  it.     But " — 

Again  he  lapsed  into  abstraction,  and  the  Prince 
held  his  peace  watchfully. 

"Prince,"  Mahommed  said  at  length,  "it  is  not 
often  I  put  myself  at  another's  bidding,  for  freedom 
to  go  where  one  pleases  is  not  more  to  a  common 
man  than  is  freedom  to  do  what  pleases  him  to  a 
sovereign ;  yet  so  will  I  with  you  in  this  matter ;  and 
as  is  the  custom  of  Moslems  setting  out  on  a  voyage 
I  say  of  our  venture,  '  In  the  name  of  God  be  its 
courses  and  its  moorings.'  That  settled,  hearken  fur- 
ther. What  you  have  given  me  is  not  all  compre- 
hensible. As  I  understand  you,  I  am  to  find  the 
surpassing  glory  in  a  field  of  war.  Tell  me,  lies  the 
field  far  or  near  ?  Where  is  it  ?  And  who  is  he  I  am 
to  challenge  ?  There  will  be  room  and  occasion  for 
combat  around  me  everywhere,  or,  if  the  occasion 
exist  not,  my  Spahis  in  a  day's  ride  can  make  one. 
There  is  nothing  stranger  than  how  small  a  cause 
suffices  us  to  set  man  against  man,  life  or  death.  But 
— and  now  I  come  to  the  very  difficulty — looking 
here  and  there  I  cannot  see  a  war  new  in  any  respect, 
either  of  parties,  or  objects,  or  pretence,  out  of  which 
such  a  prodigious  fame  is  to  be  plucked.  You  dis- 
cern the  darkness  in  which  I  am  groping.  Light,  O 
Prince — give  me  light !  " 

For  an  instant  the  mind  of  the  Jew,  sown  with 
subtlety  as  a  mine  with  fine  ore,  was  stirred  with 
admiration  of  the  quality  so  strikingly  manifested 
in  this  demand;  but  collecting  himself,  he  said, 
calmly,  for  the  question  had  been  foreseen : 

"  My  Lord  was  pleased  to  say  a  short  while  ago  that 


278 

the  Emir  Mirza,  on  his  return  from  the  Hajj,  told 
him  of  me.  Did  Mirza  tell  also  of  my  forbidding 
him  to  say  anything  of  the  predictions  I  then  in- 
trusted him  ? " 

"Yes,"  Mahommed  answered,  smiling,  "and  I 
have  loved  him  for  the  disobedience.  He  satisfied 
me  to  whom  he  thought  his  duty  was  first  owing." 

"  "Well,  if  evil  ensue  from  the  disclosure,  it  may 
be  justly  charged  to  my  indiscretion.  Let  it  pass — 
only,  in  reporting  me,  did  not  Mirza  say,  Lord  Ma- 
hommed, that  the  prohibition  I  laid  upon  him  pro- 
ceeded from  a  prudent  regard  for  your  interests  ? " 

"Yes." 

"And  in  speaking  of  the  change  in  the  status  of 
the  world  I  then  announced,  and  of  the  refluent 
wave  the  East  was  to  pour  upon  the  West "  — 

"And  of  the  doom  of  Constantinople!"  Mahom- 
med cried,  in  a  sudden  transport  of  excitement. 

"Ay,  and  of  the  hero  thou  wert  to  be,  my  Lord! 
Said  he  nothing  of  the  other  caution  I  gave  him,  how 
absolute  verity  could  only  be  had  by  a  recast  of  the 
horoscope  at  the  city  itself  ?  And  how  I  was  even 
then  on  my  way  thither  ?  " 

"  Truly,  O  Prince.     Mirza  is  a  marvel!" 

"  Thanks,  my  Lord.  The  assurance  prepares  me  to 
answer  your  last  demand. " 

Then,  lowering  his  voice,  the  Prince  returned  to 
his  ordinary  manner. 

"The  glory  you  are  to  look  for  will  not  depend 
upon  conditions  such  as  parties  to  the  war,  or  its 
immediate  cause,  or  the  place  of  its  wagement." 

Mahommed  listened  with  open  mouth. 

"My  Lord  knows  of  the  dispute  long  in  progress 
between  the  Pope  of  Rome  and  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople; one  claiming  to  be  the  head  of  th» 


279 

Church  of  Christ,  the  other  insisting  on  his  equality. 
The  dispute,  my  Lord  also  knows,  has  been  carried 
from  East  to  West,  and  back  and  back  again,  prelate 
replying  to  prelate,  until  the  whole  Church  is  falling 
to  pieces,  and  on  every  Christian  tongue  the  '  Church 
East '  and  the  '  Church  West  *  are  common  as  morn- 
ing salutations." 

Mahommed  nodded. 

"  Now,  my  Lord,"  the  Prince  continued,  the  mag- 
netic eyes  intensely  bright,  "  you  and  I  know  the 
capital  of  Christianity  is  yonder  " — he  pointed  toward 
Constantinople — "and  that  conquering  it  is  taking 
from  Christ  and  giving  to  Mahomet.  What  more  of 
definition  of  thy  glory  wilt  thou  require  ?  Thus 
early  I  salute  thee  a  Sword  of  God." 

Mahommed  sprang  from  his  couch,  and  strode  the 
floor,  frequently  clapping  his  hands.  Upon  the  pass- 
ing of  the  ecstasy,  he  stopped  in  front  of  the  Prince. 

"I  see  it  now — the  feat  of  arms  impossible  to  my 
father  reserved  for  me." 

Again  he  walked,  clapping  his  hands. 

"I  pray  your  pardon,"  he  said,  when  the  fit  was 
over.  "  In  my  great  joy  I  interrupted  you." 

"I  regret  to  try  my  Lord's  patience  further,"  the 
Prince  answered,  with  admirable  diplomacy.  "It 
were  better,  however,  to  take  another  step  in  the  ex- 
planation now.  A  few  months  after  separating  from 
Mirza  in  Mecca,  I  arrived  in  Constantinople,  and 
every  night  since,  the  heavens  being  clear,  I  have 
questioned  the  stars  early  and  late.  I  cannot  repeat 
to  my  Lord  all  the  inquiries  I  made  of  them,  so 
many  were  they,  and  so  varied  in  form,  nor  the  bases 
I  laid  hold  of  for  horoscopes,  each  having,  as  I  hoped, 
to  do  with  the  date  of  the  founding  of  the  city.  What 
calculations  I  have  made — tables  of  figures  to  cover 


280 

the  sky  with  a  tapestry  of  algebraic  and  geometrical 
symbols !  The  walks  of  astrology  are  well  known — 
I  mean  those  legitimate — nevertheless  in  my  great 
anxiety,  I  have  even  ventured  into  the  arcana  of 
magic  forbidden  to  the  Faithful.  The  seven  good 
angels,  and  the  seven  bad,  beginning  with  Juban- 
ladace,  first  of  the  good,  a  celestial  messenger,  hel- 
meted,  s  worded  with  flame,  and  otherwise  beautiful 
to  behold,  and  ending  with  Barman,  the  lowest  of 
the  bad,  the  consort  and  ally  of  witches — I  besought 
them  all  for  what  they  could  tell  me.  Is  the  time  of 
the  running  of  the  city  now,  to-morrow,  next  week — 
when  ?  Such  the  burden  of  my  inquiry.  As  yet, 
my  Lord,  no  answer  has  been  given.  I  am  merely 
bid  keep  watch  on  the  schism  of  the  Church.  In  some 
way  the  end  we  hope  has  connection  with  that  ran* 
cor,  if,  indeed,  it  be  not  the  grand  result.  With  clear 
discernment  of  the  tendencies,  the  Roman  Pontiff  is 
striving  to  lay  the  quarrel ;  but  he  speaks  to  a  rising 
tide.  We  cannot  hasten  the  event ;  neither  can  he 
delay  it.  Our  role  is  patience — patience.  At  last 
Europe  will  fall  away,  and  leave  the  Greek  to 
care  of  himself ;  then,  my  Lord,  you  have  but  to  be 
ready.  The  end  is  in  the  throes  of  its  beginning 
now." 

"Still  you  leave  me  in  the  dark,"  Mahommed 
cried,  with  a  frown. 

"  Nay,  my  Lord,  there  is  a  chance  for  us  to  make 
the  stars  speak." 

The  beguiler  appeared  to  hesitate. 

"  A  chance  ? "  Mahommed  asked. 

"  It  is  dependent,  my  Lord." 

"Upon  what?" 

"  The  life  of  the  Sultan,  thy  father." 

"  Speak  not  in  riddles,  O  Prince." 


281 

"Upon  his  death,  thou  wilt  enter  on  the  sover- 
eignty." 

"  Still  I  see  not  clearly." 

"With  the  horoscope  of  Mahommed  the  Sultan 
in  my  hand,  then  certainly  as  the  stars  perform  their 
circuits,  being  set  thereunto  from  the  first  morning, 
they  must  respond  to  me ;  and  then,  find  I  Mars  in 
the  Ascendant,  well  dignified  essentially  and  acci- 
dentally, I  can  lead  my  Lord  out  of  the  darkness." 

"Then,  Prince?" 

"He  may  see  the  Christian  capital  at  his  mercy." 

"  But  if  Mars  be  not  in  the  Ascendant  ?  " 

"  My  Lord  must  wait." 

Mahommed  sprang  to  his  feet,  gnashing  his  teeth. 

"  My  Lord,"  said  the  Prince,  calmly,  "a  man's  des- 
tiny is  never  unalterable;  it  is  like  a  pitcher  filled 
with  wine  which  he  is  carrying  to  his  lips — it  may 
be  broken  on  the  way,  and  its  contents  spilled.  Such 
has  often  happened  through  impatience  and  pride. 
What  is  waiting  but  the  wise  man's  hour  of  prepara- 
tion ? " 

The  quiet  manner  helped  the  sound  philosophy. 
Mahommed  took  seat,  remarking,  ' '  You  remind  me, 
Prince,  of  the  saying  of  the  Koran,  '  Whatsoever 
good  betideth  thee,  O  man,  it  is  from  God,  and  what- 
soever evil  betideth,  from  thyself  is  it.'  I  am  satis- 
fied. Only"— 

The  Prince  summoned  all  his  faculties  again. 

"  Only  I  see  two  periods  of  waiting  before  me;  one 
from  this  until  I  take  up  the  sovereignty ;  the  other 
thence  till  thou  bringest  me  the  mandate  of  the 
stars.  I  fear  not  the  second  period,  for,  as  thou  say- 
est,  I  can  then  lose  myself  in  making  ready ;  but  the 
first,  the  meantime — ah,  Prince,  speak  of  it.  Tell  me 
how  I  can  find  surcease  of  the  chafing  of  my  spirit." 
19 


282 

The  comprehension  of  the  wily  Hebrew  did  not 
fail  him.  His  heart  beat  violently.  He  was  master ! 
Once  more  he  was  in  position  to  change  the  world. 
A  word  though  not  more  than  "  now,"  and  he  could 
marshal  the  East,  which  he  so  loved,  against  the 
West,  which  he  so  hated.  If  Constantinople  failed 
him,  Christianity  must  yield  its  seat  to  Islam.  He 
saw  it  all  flash-like ;  yet  at  no  time  in  the  interview 
did  his  face  betoken  such  placidity  of  feeling.  The 
meantime  was  his,  not  Mahommed's — his  to  lengthen 
or  shorten — his  for  preparation.  He  could  afford  to 
be  placid. 

"There  is  much  for  my  Lord  to  do,"  he  said. 

"When,  O  Prince— now  ? " 

"  It  is  for  him  to  think  and  act  as  if  Constantinople 
were  his  capital  temporarily  in  possession  of  another. " 

The  words  caught  attention,  and  it  is  hard  saying 
what  Mahommed's  countenance  betokened.  The 
reader  must  think  of  him  as  of  a  listener  just  awak- 
ened to  a  new  idea  of  infinite  personal  concern. 

"It  is  for  him  now  to  learn  the  city  within  and 
without,"  the  Jew  proceeded  ;  "its  streets  and  edi- 
fices ;  its  halls  and  walls ;  its  strong  and  weak  places ;  its 
inhabitants,  commerce,  foreign  relations;  the  char- 
acter of  its  ruler,  his  resources  and  policies;  its  daily 
events ;  its  cliques  and  clubs,  and  religious  factions ; 
especially  is  it  for  him  to  foment  the  differences  Latin 
and  Greek." 

It  is  questionable  if  any  of  the  things  imparted  had 
been  so  effective  upon  Mahommed  as  this  one.  Not 
only  did  his  last  doubt  of  the  man  talking  disappear ; 
it  excited  a  boundless  admiration  for  him,  and  the 
freshest  novitiate  in  human  nature  knows  how  al- 
most impossible  it  is  to  refuse  trust  when  once  we 
have  been  brought  to  admire. 


283 

"  Oh !  "  Mahommed  cried.  "  A  pastime,  a  pastime, 
if  I  could  be  there ! " 

"Nay,  my  Lord,"  said  the  insidious  counsellor, 
with  a  smile,  "how  do  kings  manage  to  be  every- 
where at  the  same  time  ? " 

"  They  have  their  Ambassadors.  But  I  am  not  a 
king." 

"Not  yet  a  king" — the  speaker  laid  stress  upon 
the  adverb — "  nevertheless  public  representation  is 
one  thing;  secret  agency  another." 

Mahommed's  voice  sank  almost  to  a  whisper. 

"Wilt  thou  accept  this  agency  ? " 

"It  is  for  me  to  observe  the  heavens  at  night, 
while  calculations  will  take  my  days.  I  trust  my 
Lord  in  his  wisdom  will  excuse  me." 

"  Where  is  one  for  the  service  ?  Name  him,  Prince 
— one  as  good." 

"  There  is  one  better.  Bethink  you,  my  Lord,  the 
business  is  of  a  long  time;  it  may  run  through 
years." 

Mahommed's  brow  knit  darkly  at  the  reminder. 

"  And  he  who  undertakes  it  should  enter  Constan- 
tinople and  live  there  above  suspicion.  He  must  be 
crafty,  intelligent,  courtly  in  manner,  accomplished 
in  arms,  of  high  rank,  and  with  means  to  carry  his 
state  bravely,  for  not  only  ought  he  to  be  conspicu- 
ous in  the  Hippodrome ;  he  should  be  welcome  in  the 
palace.  Along  with  other  facilities,  he  must  be  pro- 
vided to  buy  service  in  the  Emperor's  bedroom  and 
council  chamber — nay,  at  his  elbow.  It  is  of  prime 
importance  that  he  possesses  my  Lord's  confidence 
unalterably.  Am  I  understood  ? " 

"  The  man,  Prince,  the  man  I " 

"  My  Lord  has  already  named  him." 

"I?" 


284 

*'  Only  to-night  my  Lord  spoke  of  him  as  a  marvel. " 

"Mirza!"  exclaimed  Mahommed,  clapping  his 
hands. 

"  Mirza,"  the  Prince  returned,  and  proceeded  with- 
out pause:  "Despatch  him  to  Italy;  then  let  him 
appear  in  Constantinople,  embarked  from  a  galley, 
habited  like  a  Eoman,  and  with  a  suitable  Italian 
title.  He  speaks  Italian  already,  is  fixed  in  his  reli- 
gion, and  in  knightly  honor.  Not  all  the  gifts  at  the 
despot's  disposal,  nor  the  blandishments  of  society 
can  shake  his  allegiance — he  worships  my  Lord. " 

"  My  servant  has  found  much  favor  with  you,  0 
Prince?" 

Accepting  the  remark  as  a  question,  the  other  an- 
swered : 

' '  Did  I  not  spend  the  night  with  him  at  El  Zari- 
bah  ?  Was  I  not  witness  of  his  trial  of  faith  at  the 
Holy  Kaaba  ?  Have  I  not  heard  from  my  Lord 
himself  how,  when  put  to  choice,  he  ignored  my  pro- 
hibition respecting  the  stars  ?  " 

Mahommed  arose,  and  again  walked  to  and  fro. 

"  There  is  a  trouble  in  this  proposal,  Prince,"  he 
said,  halting  abruptly.  "  So  has  Mirza  become  a  part 
of  me,  I  am  scarcely  myself  without  him." 

Another  turn  across  the  floor,  and  he  seemed  to  be- 
come reconciled.  "  Let  us  have  done  for  to-night," 
he  next  said.  "  The  game  is  imperative,  but  it  will 
not  be  harmed  by  a  full  discussion.  Stay  with  me 
to-morrow,  Prince." 

The  Prince  remembered  the  Emperor.  Not  un- 
likely a  message  from  that  high  personage  was  at  his 
house,  received  in  course  of  the  day. 

"True,  very  true,  and  the  invitation  is  a  great 
honor  to  me,"  he  replied,  bowing;  "but  I  am  re- 
minded that  the  gossips  in  Byzantium  will  feast  each 


285 

other  when  to-morrow  it  passes  from  court  to  bazaar 
how  the  Princess  Irene  and  the  Prince  of  India  were 
driven  by  the  storm  to  accept  hospitality  in  the 
White  Castle.  And  if  it  get  abroad,  that  Mahom- 
med,  son  of  the  great  Amurath,  came  also  to  the 
Castle,  who  may  foretell  the  suspicions  to  hatch  in 
the  city  ?  No,  my  Lord,  I  submit  it  is  better  for  me 
to  depart  with  the  Princess  at  the  subsidence  of  the 
waters. " 

"  Be  it  so,"  Mahommed  returned,  cordially.  "  We 
understand  each  other.  I  am  to  wait  and  you  to 
communicate  with  me;  and  now,  morning  comes 
apace,  good  night." 

He  held  his  hand  to  the  Jew ;  whereat  the  latter 
knelt  and  kissed  the  hand,  but  retained  it  to  say : 

"My  Lord,  if  I  know  him  rightly,  will  not  sleep 
to-night ;  thought  is  an  enemy  to  sleep ;  and  besides 
the  inspiration  there  is  in  the  destiny  promised,  its 
achievement  lies  all  before  him.  Yet  I  wish  to  leave 
behind  me  one  further  topic,  promising  it  is  as  much 
greater  than  any  other  as  the  Heavens  are  higher 
than  the  earth." 

"Rise,  Prince,"  said  Mahommed,  helping  him  to 
his  feet.  "Such  ceremonious  salutation  whether  in 
reception  or  at  departure  may  be  dispensed  with  here- 
after ;  thou  art  not  a  stranger,  but  more  than  a  guest. 
I  count  thee  my  friend  whom  everything  shall  wait 
upon — even  myself.  Speak  now  of  what  thou  callest 
the  greater  scheme.  I  am  most  curious." 

There  was  a  silence  while  one  might  count  ten 
slowly.  The  Jew  in  that  space  concentrated  the 
mysterious  force  of  which  he  was  master  in  great 
store,  so  it  shone  in  his  eyes,  gave  tone  to  his  voice, 
and  was  an  outgoing  of  WILL  in  overwhelming 
current. 


286 

"Lord  Mahommed,"  he  said,  "  I  know  you  are  a 
believer  in  God." 

The  young  Turk  was  conscious  of  a  strange  thrill 
passing  through  him  from  brain  to  body. 

"  In  nature  and  every  quality  the  God  of  the  Jew, 
the  Christian,  and  the  Moslem  is  the  same.  Take 
we  their  own  sayings.  Christ  and  Mahomet  were 
witnesses  sent  to  testify  of  Him  first,  highest  and 
alone — Him  the  universal  Father.  Yet  behold  the 
perversity  of  man.  God  has  been  deposed,  and  for 
ages  believers  in  Him  have  been  divided  amongst 
themselves;  wherefore  hate,  jealousies,  wars,  battle 
and  the  smoke  of  slaughter  perpetually.  But  now 
is  He  at  last  minded  to  be  restored.  Hear,  Lord 
Mahommed,  hear  with  soul  and  mortal  ear  1 " 

The  words  and  manner  caught  and  exalted  Ma- 
hommed's  spirit.  As  Michael,  with  a  sweep  of  his 
wings,  is  supposed  to  pass  the  nether  depths,  an  im- 
pulsion bore  the  son  of  Amurath  up  to  a  higher  and 
clearer  plane.  He  could  not  but  hear. 

"  Be  it  true  now  that  God  permits  His  presence  to 
be  known  in  human  affairs  only  when  He  has  a  pur- 
pose to  justify  His  interposition;  then,  as  we  dare 
not  presume  the  capital  of  Christendom  goes  to  its 
fall  without  His  permission,  why  your  designation 
for  the  mighty  work  ?  That  you  may  be  personally 
glorified,  my  Lord  ?  Look  higher.  See  yourself  His 
chosen  instrument — and  this  the  deed!  From  the 
seat  of  the  Caesars,  its  conquest  an  argument,  He 
means  you  to  bring  men  together  in  His  name. 
Titles  may  remain — Jew,  Moslem,  Christian,  Buddh- 
ist— but  there  shall  be  an  end  of  wars  for  religion — 
all  mankind  are  to  be  brethren  in  Him.  This  the 
deed,  my  Lord — Unity  in  God,  and  from  it,  a  miracle 
of  the  ages  slow  to  come  but  certain,  the  evolution 


287 

of  peace  and  goodwill  amongst  men.     I  leave  the 
idea  with  you.     Good  night !  " 

Mahommed  remained  so  impressed  and  confounded 
that  the  seer  was  permitted  to  walk  out  as  from 
an  empty  room.  Mirza  received  him  outside  the 
door. 


CHAPTER  XV 

DEPARTURE  FROM  THE  WHITE  CASTLE 

THE  storm  continued  till  near  daybreak.  At  sun- 
rise the  wind  abated,  and  was  rapidly  succeeded  by 
a  dead  calm;  about  the  same  time  the  last  cloud 
disappeared,  leaving  the  sky  an  azure  wonder,  and 
the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus  far  and  near  refreshed 
and  purified. 

After  breakfast,  Mirza  conducted  the  Prince  of 
India  to  another  private  audience  with  Mahommed. 
As  the  conference  had  relation  to  the  subjects  gone 
over  in  the  night,  the  colloquy  may  be  dispensed 
with,  and  only  the  conclusions  given. 

Mahommed  admitted  he  had  not  been  able  to  sleep ; 
in  good  spirits,  however,  he  agreed,  if  the  Prince 
were  accountable  for  the  wakefulness,  he  was  to  be 
forgiven,  since  he  had  fairly  foretold  it,  and,  like 
other  prophets,  was  entitled  to  immunity.  The  in- 
vitation to  remain  at  the  Castle  was  renewed,  and 
again  declined. 

Mahommed  next  conceded  the  expediency  of  his 
waiting  to  hear  what  further  the  stars  might  say 
with  respect  to  the  great  business  before  him,  and 
voluntarily  bound  himself  to  passive  conduct  and 
silence ;  in  assuagement  of  the  impatience  he  knew 
would  torment  him,  he  insisted,  however,  upon  es- 
tablishing a  line  of  couriers  between  his  place  of 
residence,  wherever  it  might  be,  and  the  White 


289 

Castle.  Intelligence  could  thus  t»e  safely  trans- 
mitted him  from  Constantinople.  In  furtherance 
of  this  object  the  Governor  of  the  Castle  would  be 
instructed  to  honor  the  requests  of  the  Prince  of 
India. 

Mahommed  condescended  next  to  approve  the 
suggestion  of  a  secret  agency  in  Constantinople. 
Respecting  a  person  for  the  service,  the  delicacy  of 
which  was  conceded,  he  had  reached  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  no  one  subject  to  his  control  so  fitted 
in  every  respect  as  Mirza.  The  selection  of  the  Emir 
might  prove  troublesome  since  he  was  a  favorite 
with  the  Sultan;  if  investigations  consequent  on  his 
continued  absence  were  instituted,  there  was  danger 
of  their  resulting  in  disagreeable  exposure;  never- 
theless the  venture  was  worth  the  while,  and  as 
tune  was  important,  the  Emir  should  be  sent  off 
forthwith  under  instructions  in  harmony  with  the 
Prince's  advice.  Or  more  clearly,  he  was  to  betake 
himself  to  Italy  immediately,  and  thence  to  the 
Greek  capital,  a  nobleman  amply  provided  with 
funds  for  his  maintenance  there  in  essential  state 
and  condition.  His  first  duty  when  in  the  city 
should  be  to  devise  communication  with  the  White 
Castle,  where  connection  with  the  proposed  line  of 
couriers  should  be  made  for  safe  transmission  of  his 
own  reports,  and  such  intelligence  as  the  Prince 
should  from  time  to  time  consider  it  advisable  to 
forward. 

This  of  course  contemplated  recognition  and  con- 
cert between  the  Emir  and  the  Prince.  In  token  of 
his  confidence  in  the  latter,  Mahommed  would  con- 
stitute him  the  superior  in  cases  of  difference  of 
opinion;  though  from  his  knowledge  of  Mirza's 
romantic  affection  acquired  in  Mecca  and  on  the 
19 


road  thither,  he  had  little  apprehension  of  such  a 
difference. 

Mahommed  and  the  Prince  were  alike  well  satis- 
fied with  the  conclusions  between  them,  and  their 
leave-taking  at  the  end  of  the  audience  was  marked 
with  a  degree  of  affection  approaching  that  of  father 
and  son. 

About  mid-afternoon  the  Prince  and  Sergius  sallied 
from  the  Castle  to  observe  the  water,  and  finding  it 
quiet,  they  determined  to  embark. 

The  formalities  of  reception  in  the  Castle  were  not 
less  rigidly  observed  at  the  departure.  In  care  of 
the  eunuch  the  Princess  and  Lael  descended  to  the 
hall  of  entrance  where  they  were  received  by  the 
supposed  Governor,  who  was  in  armor  thoroughly 
cleansed  of  dust  and  skilfully  furbished.  His  man- 
ner was  even  more  gallant  and  dignified.  He 
offered  his  hand  to  assist  the  Princess  to  seat  in  the 
chair,  and  upon  taking  it  she  glanced  furtively  at 
his  face,  but  the  light  was  too  scant  for  a  distinct 
view. 

In  the  Castle  and  out  there  were  no  spectators. 

Passing  the  gate,  the  Princess  bethought  her  of 
the  story-teller,  and  looked  for  him  well  as  she  could 
through  the  narrow  windows.  At  the  landing,  when 
the  Governor  had  in  silence,  though  with  ease  and 
grace,  helped  her  from  the  carriage,  the  porters  being 
withdrawn,  she  proceeded  to  acknowledgments. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  she  said,  through  her  veil,  "  that  I 
must  depart  without  knowing  the  name  or  rank  of 
my  host." 

"Had  I  greater  rank,  O  Princess,"  he  returned, 
gravely,  ' '  I  should  have  pleasure  in  introducing  my- 
self ;  for  then  there  would  be  a  hope  that  my  name, 
supported  by  a  title  of  dignity,  would  not  be  erased 


291 

from  your  memory  by  the  gayeties  of  the  city  to 
which  you  are  going.  The  White  Castle  is  a  com- 
mand suitable  to  one  of  humble  grade,  and  to  be 
saluted  Governor,  because  I  am  charged  with  its 
keeping,  satisfies  my  pride  for  the  present.  It  is  a 
convenient  title,  moreover,  should  you  ever  again 
honor  me  with  a  thought  or  a  word." 

"I  submit  perforce,"  she  said.  "Yet,  Sir  Gov- 
ernor, your  name  would  have  saved  me  from  the 
wonder  of  my  kinsman,  if  not  his  open  question, 
when,  as  I  am  bound  to,  I  tell  him  of  the  fair  treat- 
ment and  high  courtesy  you  have  shown  me  and  my 
friends  here  while  in  refuge  in  your  Castle  walls. 
He  knows  it  natural  for  the  recipient  of  bounty  to 
learn  who  the  giver  is,  with  name  and  history ;  but 
how  amazed  and  displeased  he  will  be  when  I  barely 
describe  your  entertainment.  Indeed,  I  fear  he  will 
think  me  guilty  of  over  description  or  condemn  me 
for  ingratitude." 

She  saw  the  blood  color  his  face,  and  noticed  the 
air  of  sincerity  with  which  he  replied.  ' '  Princess,  if 
payment  for  what  you  have  received  at  my  hands 
were  worthy  a  thought,  I  should  say  now,  and  all 
my  days  through,  down  to  the  very  latest,  that  to 
have  heard  you  speak  so  graciously  is  an  overprice 
out  of  computation." 

The  veil  hid  her  responsive  blush ;  for  there  was 
something  in  his  voice  and  manner,  possibly  the 
earnestness  marking  them,  which  lifted  the  words 
out  of  the  commonplace  and  formal.  She  could  not 
but  see  how  much  more  he  left  implied  than  actually 
expressed.  For  relief,  she  turned  to  another  subject. 

"  If  I  may  allude  to  a  part  of  your  generous  atten- 
tion, Sir  Governor,  distinguishing  it  from  the  whole, 
I  should  like  to  admit  the  pleasure  had  from  the 


itation  of  the  Arabian  story-teller.  I  will  not  ask 
his  name ;  still  it  must  be  a  great  happiness  to  trav- 
erse the  world  with  welcome  everywhere,  and  every- 
where and  all  the  time  accompanied  and  inspired  by 
a  mind  stored  with  themes  and  examples  beautiful 
as  the  history  of  El  Hatim." 

A  light  singularly  bright  shone  in  the  Governor's 
eyes,  significant  of  a  happy  idea,  and  with  more 
haste  than  he  had  yet  evinced,  he  replied : 

"  O  Princess,  the  name  of  the  Arab  is  Aboo-Obei- 
dah ;  in  the  desert  they  call  him  the  Singing  Sheik, 
and  among  Moslems,  city  bred  and  tent  born  alike, 
he  is  great  and  beloved.  Such  is  his  sanctity  that 
all  doors  he  knocks  at  open  to  him,  even  those  of 
harems  zealously  guarded.  When  he  arrives  at  Adri- 
anople,  in  his  first  day  there  he  will  be  conducted  to 
the  Hanoum  of  the  Sultan,  and  at  her  signal  the 
ladies  of  the  household  will  flock  to  hear  him.  Now, 
would  it  please  you,  I  will  prevail  on  him  to  delay 
his  journey  that  he  may  visit  you  at  your  palace." 

"  The  adventure  might  distress  him,"  she  replied. 

"  Say  not  so.  In  such  a  matter  I  dare  represent  and 
pledge  him.  Only  give  me  where  you  would  have 
him  come,  and  the  time,  O  Princess,  and  he  will  be 
there,  not  a  star  in  the  sky  more  constant." 

"  With  my  promise  of  good  welcome  to  him  then," 
she  said,  well  pleased,  "  be  my  messenger,  Sir  Gov- 
ernor, and  say  in  the  morning  day  after  to-morrow 
at  my  palace  by  Therapia.  And  now  thanks  again, 
and  farewell." 

So  saying  she  held  her  hand  to  him,  and  he  kissed 
it,  and  assisted  her  into  the  boat. 

The  adieux  of  the  others,  the  Prince  of  India,  Ser- 
gius  and  Lael,  were  briefer.  The  Governor  was  polite 
to  each  of  them ;  at  the  same  time,  his  eyes,  refusing 


restraint,  wandered  to  where  the  Princess  sat  looking 
at  him  with  unveiled  face. 

In  the  mouth  of  the  river  the  boats  were  brought 
together,  and,  while  drifting,  she  expressed  the 
pleasure  she  had  from  the  fortunate  meeting  with 
the  Prince ;  his  presence,  she  doubted  not,  contributed 
greatly  to  the  good  conclusion  of  what  in  its  begin- 
ning seemed  so  unpromising. 

"Nor  can  I  convey  an  idea  of  the  confidence  and 
comfortable  feeling  I  derived  from  the  society  of  thy 
daughter,"  she  added,  speaking  to  the  Prince,  but 
looking  at  Lael.  ' '  She  was  courageous  and  sensible, 
and  I  cannot  content  myself  until  she  is  my  guest  at 
Therapia." 

"  I  would  be  greatly  pleased,"  Lael  said,  modestly. 

"  Will  the  Princess  appoint  a  time  ? "  the  Wanderer 
asked. 

' '  To-morrow — or  next  week — at  your  convenience. 
These  warm  months  are  delightful  in  the  country  by 
the  water  side.  At  Therapia,  Prince — thou  and  thine. 
The  blessing  of  the  Saints  go  with  you — farewell." 

Then  though  the  boats  kept  on  down  toward  Con- 
stantinople, they  separated,  and  in  good  time  the 
Prince  of  India  and  Lael  were  at  home ;  while  the 
Princess  carried  Sergius  to  her  palace  in  the  city. 
Next  day,  having  provided  him  with  the  habit  ap- 
proved by  metropolitan  Greek  priests,  she  accompa- 
nied him  to  the  patriarchal  residence,  introduced  him 
with  expressions  of  interest,  and  left  him  in  the  holy 
keeping. 

Sergius  was  accepted  and  rated  a  neophyte,  the 
vanity  of  the  Byzantine  clergy  scorning  thought  of 
excellence  in  a  Russian  provincial.  He  entered  upon 
the  life,  however,  with  humility  and  zeal,  governed 
by  a  friendly  caution  from  the  Princess. 


294 

"  Remember,"  she  said  to  him,  as  they  paused  on 
the  patriarchal  doorsteps  for  permission  to  enter, 
"  remember  Father  Hilarion  is  regarded  here  as  a 
heretic.  The  stake,  imprisonment  in  darkness  for 
life,  the  lions  in  the  Cynegion,  punishment  in  some 
form  of  approved  cruelty  awaits  a  follower  of  his  by 
open  avowal.  Patience  then ;  and  when  endurance 
is  tried  most,  and  you  feel  it  must  break,  come  to  me 
at  Therapia.  Only  hold  yourself  in  readiness,  by 
reading  and  thought,  to  speak  for  our  Christian  faith 
unsullied  by  human  inventions,  and  bide  my  signal. " 

And  so  did  he  observe  everything  and  venture 
nothing  that  presently  he  was  on  the  road  to  high 
favor. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AN   EMBASSY   TO   THE    PRINCESS 

WHEN  the  Princess  Irene  returned  to  Therapia 
next  day,  she  found  awaiting  her  the  Dean  of  the 
Court,  an  official  of  great  importance  to  whom  the 
settlement  of  questions  pertinent  to  rank  was  con- 
fided. The  state  barge  of  fifteen  oars  in  which  he 
arrived  was  moored  to  the  marbles  of  the  quay  in 
front  of  her  palace,  a  handsomely  ornamented  vessel 
scarcely  needing  its  richly  liveried  rowers  to  draw 
about  it  the  curious  and  idle  of  the  town  in  staring 
groups.  At  sight  of  it,  the  Princess  knew  there  was 
a  message  for  her  from  the  Emperor.  She  lost  no 
time  in  notifying  the  Dean  of  her  readiness  to  re- 
ceive him.  The  interview  took  place  in  the  recep- 
tion room. 

The  Dean  was  a  venerable  man  who,  having  served 
acceptably  through  the  preceding  reign,  was  im- 
mensely discreet,  and  thoroughly  indurate  with  for- 
malism and  ceremony ;  wherefore,  passing  his  speech 
and  manner,  it  is  better  worth  the  while  to  give, 
briefly  as  may  be,  the  substance  of  the  communica- 
tion he  brought  to  the  Princess. 

He  was  sure  she  remembered  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  coronation  of  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor,  and 
of  His  Majesty's  entry  into  Constantinople ;  he  was 
not  so  certain,  however,  of  her  information  touching 
some  matters  distinguishable  as  domestic  rather  than 


296 

administrative.  Or  she  might  know  of  them,  but 
not  reliably.  Thus  she  might  not  have  heard  authen- 
tically that,  immediately  upon  his  becoming  settled 
in  the  imperial  seat,  His  Majesty  decided  it  of  first 
importance  to  proceed  to  the  selection  of  a  spouse. 

The  Dean  then  expatiated  on  the  difficulty  of  find- 
ing in  all  the  world  a  woman  suitable  for  the  incom- 
parable honor.  So  many  points  entered  into  the  con- 
sideration— age,  appeai'ance,  rank,  education,  reli- 
gion, dowry,  politics — upon  each  of  which  he  dwelt 
with  the  gravity  of  a  philosopher,  the  assurance  of  a 
favorite,  and  the  garrulity  of  age.  Having  at  length 
presented  the  problem,  and,  he  thought,  sufficiently 
impressed  the  Princess  with  its  unexampled  intrica- 
cies and  perils,  he  next  unfolded  the  several  things 
resolved  upon  and  attempted  in  the  way  of  solution. 

Every  royal  house  in  the  West  had  been  searched 
for  its  marriageable  females.  At  one  time  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Doge  of  Venice  was  nearly  chosen.  Un- 
fortunately there  were  influential  Greeks  of  greater 
pride  than  judgment  to  object  to  the  Doge.  He  was 
merely  an  elective  chief.  He  might  die  the  very  day 
after  celebrating  the  espousals,  and  then — not  even 
the  ducal  robes  were  inheritable.  No,  the  flower  to 
deck  the  Byzantine  throne  was  not  in  the  West. 

Thereupon  the  East  was  explored.  For  a  time  the 
election  trembled  between  a  Princess  of  Trebizond 
and  a  Princess  of  Georgia.  As  usual  the  court  di- 
vided on  the  question,  when,  to  quiet  the  factions, 
His  Majesty  ordered  Phranza,  the  Grand  Chamber- 
lain, a  courtier  of  learning  and  diplomatic  experi- 
ence, who  held  the  Emperor's  confidence  in  greater 
degree  than  any  other  court  official,  unless  it  might 
be  the  Dean  himself,  to  go  see  the  rivals  personally, 
and  report  with  recommendation.  The  ambassador 


297 

had  been  gone  two  years.  From  Georgia  he  had 
travelled  to  Trebizond;  still  nothing  definite.  The 
embassy,  having  been  outfitted  in  a  style  to  ade- 
quately impress  the  semi-barbarians,  was  proving 
vastly  expensive.  His  Majesty,  with  characteristic 
wisdom,  had  determined  to  take  the  business  in  his 
own  keeping.  There  were  many  noble  families  in 
Constantinople.  Why  not  seek  a  consort  among 
them  ? 

The  scheme  had  advantages ;  not  least,  if  a  Byzan- 
tine could  be  found,  the  Emperor  would  have  the 
happiness  of  making  the  discovery  and  conducting 
the  negotiations  himself — in  common  parlance,  of 
doing  his  own  courting.  There  might  be  persons, 
the  Dean  facetiously  remarked,  who  preferred  trust- 
ing the  great  affair  of  wife-choosing  to  ambassadors, 
but  he  had  never  seen  one  of  them. 

The  ground  covered  by  the  ancient  in  his  state- 
ment is  poorly  represented  by  these  paragraphs,  ample 
as  they  may  seem  to  the  reader.  Indeed,  the  sun  was 
falling  swiftly  into  the  lap  of  night  when  he  thought 
of  concluding.  Meantime  the  Princess  listened 
silently,  her  patience  sustained  by  wonder  at  what 
it  all  meant.  The  enlightenment  at  last  came. 

"Now,  my  dear  Princess,"  he  said,  lowering  his 
voice,  "  you  must  know  " — he  arose,  and,  as  became 
one  so  endued  with  palace  habits,  peered  cautiously 
around. 

' '  Be  seated,  my  Lord, "  she  said ;  ' '  there  are  no  eyes 
in  my  doors  nor  ears  in  my  walls." 

"  Oh,  the  matter  is  of  importance — a  state  secret ! " 

He  drew  the  stool  nearer  her. 

"  You  must  know,  dear  Princess,  that  the  Grand 
Chamberlain,  Phranza,  has  been  negligent  and  re- 
miss in  the  time  he  has  consumed,  saying  nothing 


ef  his  lavishment  of  treasure  so  badly  needed  at 
home.  Notaras,  the  Admiral,  and  the  Grand  Domes- 
tic, are  both  pursuing  His  Majesty  vigorously  for 
funds  and  supplies;  worse  still,  the  Patriarch  lets 
slip  no  opportunity  to  bid  him  look  at  the  furniture 
of  the  churches  going  to  ruin.  The  imperial  con- 
science being  tender  in  whatever  pertains  to  God 
and  religion,  he  has  little  peace  left  for  prayers. 
Wherefore,  there  are  of  us  who  think  it  would  be 
loyalty  to  help  secure  a  bride  for  His  Majesty  at 
home,  and  thus  make  an  end  to  the  wasteful  and  in- 
conclusive touring  of  Phranza." 

The  Dean  drew  yet  nearer  the  Princess,  and  re- 
duced his  voice  to  a  tone  slightly  above  a  whisper. 

"  Now  you  must  know  further — I  am  the  author 
and  suggestor  of  the  idea  of  His  Majesty's  choosing 
an  Empress  from  the  many  noble  and  beautiful  dames 
and  maidens  of  this  our  ancient  city  of  Byzantium, 
in  every  respect  the  equals,  and  in  many  points  men- 
tionable  the  superiors  of  the  best  foreigner  possible 
of  finding." 

The  Dean  pursed  his  white-bearded  mouth,  and 
posed  himself  proudly ;  but  his  auditor  still  holding 
her  peace,  he  leaned  forward  further,  and  whispered, 
"  My  dear  Princess,  I  did  more.  I  mentioned  you  to 
His  Majesty  " — 

The  Princess  started  to  her  feet,  whiter  than  whitest 
marble  in  the  Pentelic  panelling  of  the  room ;  yet  in 
total  misapprehension  of  her  feeling,  the  venerable 
intriguant  went  on  without  pause:  "Yes,  I  men- 
tioned you  to  His  Majesty,  and  to-morrow,  Princess 
— to-morrow — he  will  come  here  in  person  to  see  you, 
and  urge  his  suit. " 

He  dropped  on  his  knees,  and  catching  her  hand, 
kissed  it. 


299 

"O  Princess,  fairest  and  most  worthy,  suffer  me 
first  of  all  the  court  to  congratulate  you  on  the 
superlative  honor  to  which  you  will  be  invited. 
And  when  you  are  in  the  exalted  position,  may  I 
hope  to  be  remembered  " — 

He  was  not  permitted  to  finish  the  petition.  With- 
drawing her  hand  with  decisive  action,  she  bade 
him  be  silent  or  speak  to  her  questions.  And  he  was 
silent  through  surprise. 

In  such  manner  she  gained  an  interval  for  thought. 
The  predicament,  as  she  saw  it,  was  troublesome  and 
unfortunate.  Honor  was  intended  her,  the  highest 
in  the  imperial  gift,  and  the  offer  was  coming  with 
never  a  doubt  of  its  instantaneous  and  grateful 
acceptance.  Remembering  her  obligations  to  the 
Emperor,  her  eyes  filled  with  tears.  She  respected 
and  venerated  him,  yet  could  not  be  his  Empress. 
The  great  title  was  not  a  sufficient  inducement.  But 
how  manage  the  rejection  ?  She  called  on  the  Vir- 
gin for  help.  Directly  there  was  a  way  exposed. 
First,  she  must  save  her  benefactor  from  rejection ; 
second,  the  Dean  and  the  court  must  never  know  of 
the  course  of  the  affair  or  its  conclusion. 

"Rise,  my  Lord,"  she  said,  kindly  though  with 
firmness.  "The  receiver  of  great  news,  I  thank 
you,  and  promise,  if  ever  I  attain  the  throne  to  hold 
you  in  recollection.  But  now,  so  am  I  overwhelmed 
by  the  prospect,  I  am  not  myself.  Indeed,  my  Lord, 
would  you  increase  my  indebtedness  to  its  utmost 
limit,  take  every  acknowledgment  as  said,  and  leave 
me — leave  me  for  preparation  for  the  morrow's  event. 
God,  his  Son  and  angels  only  know  the  awfulness  of 
my  need  of  right  direction  and  good  judgment." 

He  had  the  wit  to  see  her  agitation,  and  that  it 
was  wisest  for  him  to  depart. 


800 

"  I  will  go,  Princess,"  he  said,  "  and  may  the  Holy 
Mother  give  you  of  her  wisdom  also." 

She  detained  him  at  the  door  to  ask:  "Only  tell 
me,  my  Lord,  did  His  Majesty  send  you  with  this 
notice  ? " 

"His  Majesty  honored  me  with  the  message." 

"At  what  hour  will  he  come  ?  " 

"  In  the  forenoon." 

"  Report,  I  pray  you  then,  that  my  house  will  be 
at  his  service." 


CHAPTER  XVH 

THE  EMPEROR'S  WOOING 

ABOUT  ten  o'clock  the  day  following  the  extraor- 
dinary announcement  given,  a  galley  of  three  banks 
of  oars,  classed  a  trireme,  rounded  the  seaward  jut 
of  the  promontory  overhanging  the  property  of  the 
Princess  Irene  at  Therapia. 

The  hull  of  the  vessel  was  highly  ornate  with  gild- 
ing and  carving.  At  the  bow,  for  figure-head,  there 
was  an  image  of  the  Madonna  of  the  Panagia,  or 
Holy  Banner  of  Constantinople.  The  broad  square 
sail  was  of  cherry-red  color,  and  in  excellent  corre- 
spondence, the  oars,  sixty  to  a  side,  were  painted  a 
flaming  scarlet.  When  filled,  the  sail  displayed 
a  Greek  cross  in  golden  filament.  The  deck  aft 
was  covered  with  a  purple  awning,  in  the  shade  of 
which,  around  a  throne,  sat  a  grave  and  decorous 
company  in  gorgeous  garments;  and  among  them 
moved  a  number  of  boys,  white-shirted  and  bare  of 
head,  dispensing  perfume  from  swinging  censers. 
Forward,  a  body-guard,  chosen  from  the  household 
troops  and  full  armed,  were  standing  at  ease,  and 
they,  with  a  corps  of  trumpeters  and  heralds  in 
such  splendor  of  golden  horns  and  tabards  of  gold 
as  to  pour  enrichment  over  the  whole  ship,  filled 
the  space  from  bulwark  to  bulwark.  The  Emperor 
occupied  the  throne. 

This  galley,  to  which  the  harmonious  movement 


302 

of  the  oars  gave  a  semblance  of  life,  in  the  distance 
reminding  one  of  a  great  bird  fantastically  feathered 
and  in  slow  majestic  motion,  was  no  sooner  hove  in 
sight  than  the  townspeople  were  thrown  into  fer- 
ment. A  flotilla  of  small  boats,  hastily  launched, 
put  out  in  racing  order  to  meet  and  escort  it  into 
the  bay,  and  before  anchorage  was  found,  the  whole 
shore  was  astir  and  in  excited  babblement. 

A  detachment  of  the  guard  was  first  landed  on  the 
quay  in  front  of  the  Princess'  gate.  Accepting  the 
indication,  thither  rushed  the  populace ;  for  in  truth, 
since  the  occupation  of  the  Asiatic  shore  of  the  Bos- 
phorus  by  the  Turks,  the  Emperor  seldom  extended 
his  voyages  far  as  Therapia.  Then,  descending  the 
sides  by  carpeted  stairs,  the  suite  disembarked,  and 
after  them,  amidst  a  tremendous  flourish  from  the 
trumpet  corps,  Constantine  followed. 

The  Emperor,  in  his  light  boat,  remained  standing 
during  the  passage  to  the  shore  that  he  might  be 
seen  by  the  people ;  and  as  he  then  appeared,  helmed 
and  in  close-fitting  cuirass,  his  arms  in  puffed  sleeves 
of  red  silk,  his  legs,  below  a  heavily  embroidered 
narrow  skirt,  clothed  in  pliant  chain  mail  intri- 
cately linked,  his  feet  steel-shod,  a  purple  cloak 
hanging  lightly  at  the  back  from  neck  to  heel,  and 
spurred  and  magnificently  sworded,  and  all  agleam 
with  jewels  and  gold,  it  must  be  conceded  he  justi- 
fied his  entitlement. 

At  sight  of  his  noble  countenance,  visible  under 
the  raised  visor,  the  spectators  lifted  their  voices  in 
hearty  acclamations — "  God  and  Constantine !  Live 
the  Emperor  I " 

It  really  seemed  as  if  the  deadly  factiousness  of 
the  capital  had  not  reached  Therapia.  In  the  lifted 
head,  the  brightened  eyes,  the  gracious  though 


stately  bows  cast  right  and  left,  Constantine  pub- 
lished the  pleasure  the  reception  was  giving  him. 

A  long  flourish  timed  his  march  through  the  kiosk 

of  the  gate,   and  along  the  shell-strewn,   winding 

road,  to  the  broad  steps  leading  to  the  portico  of 

the  palace ;  there,  ascending  first,  he  was  received  by 

.  the  Princess. 

Amid  a  group  of  maids  in  attendance,  all  young, 
fair,  high-born,  she  stood,  never  more  tastefully 
attired,  never  more  graceful  and  self-possessed,  never 
more  lovely,  not  even  in  childhood  before  the  flitting 
of  its  virginal  bloom;  and  though  the  portico  was 
garden-like  in  decoration,  vines,  roses  and  flowering 
shrubs  everywhere,  the  sovereign  had  eyes  for  her 
alone. 

Just  within  the  line  of  fluted  pillars  he  halted, 
and  drew  himself  up,  smiling  as  became  a  suitor,  yet 
majestic  as  became  a  king.  Then  she  stepped  for- 
ward, and  knelt,  and  kissed  his  hand,  and  when  he 
helped  her  to  her  feet,  and  before  the  flush  on  her 
forehead  was  gone,  she  said : 

"  Thou  art  my  sovereign  and  benefactor;  nor  less 
for  the  goodnesses  thou  hast  done  to  thy  people,  and 
art  constantly  doing,  welcome,  O  my  Lord,  to  the 
house  thou  didst  give  me." 

"  Speak  not  so,"  he  replied.  "  Or  if  it  please  thee 
to  give  me  credit,  be  it  for  the  things  which  in  some 
way  tried  me,  not  those  I  did  for  reward." 

"Reward!" 

"  Ay,  for  such  are  pleasure  and  peace  of  mind." 

Then  one  by  one,  she  naming  them  as  they  ad- 
vanced, her  attendants  knelt,  and  kissed  the  floor  in 
front  of  him,  and  had  each  a  pleasant  word,  for  he 
permitted  none  to  excel  him  in  decorous  gallantry  to 
good  women. 


304 

In  return,  he  called  the  officers  of  his  company  ac- 
cording to  their  rank ;  his  brother,  who  had  afterward 
the  grace  to  die  with  him ;  the  Grand  Domestic,  gen- 
eral of  the  army ;  the  Grand  Duke  Notaras,  admiral 
of  the  navy ;  the  Grand  Equerry  (Protostrator) ;  the 
Grand  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  (Logothete)  •  the 
Superintendent  of  Finance ;  the  Governor  of  the  Pal- 
ace (Curopalate)  ;  the  Keeper  of  the  Purple  Ink  ; 
the  Keeper  of  the  Secret  Seal ;  the  First  Valet ;  the 
Chief  of  the  Night  Guard  (Grand  Drumgaire)  •  the 
Chief  of  the  Huntsmen  (Protocynege)  ;  the  Com- 
mander of  the  Body  Guard  of  Foreigners  (Acolyte) ; 
the  Professor  of  Philosophy ;  the  Professor  of  Elocu- 
tion and  Rhetoric  ;  the  Attorney  General  (Norno- 
phylex)  ;  the  Chief  Falconer  (Protojeracaire)  and 
others — these  he  called  one  by  one,  and  formally 
presented  to  the  Princess,  not  minding  that  with 
many  of  them  she  was  already  acquainted. 

They  were  for  the  most  part  men  advanced  in 
years,  and  right  well  skilled  in  the  arts  of  courtier- 
ship.  The  empressement  of  manner  with  which  they 
saluted  her  was  not  lost  upon  her  woman's  instinct ; 
infinitely  quick  and  receptive,  she  knew  without  a 
word  spoken,  that  each  left  his  salute  on  her  hand 
believing  it  the  hand  of  his  future  Empress.  Last 
of  those  presented  was  the  Dean  of  the  Court.  He 
was  noticeably  formal  and  distant  ;  besides  being 
under  the  eye  of  his  master,  the  wily  diplomat  was 
more  doubtful  of  the  outcome  of  the  day's  visit  than 
most  of  his  colleagues. 

"Now,"  the  Princess  said,  when  the  presentation 
was  finished,  "will  my  most  noble  sovereign  suffer 
me  to  conduct  him  to  the  reception  room  ?  " 

The  Emperor  stepped  to  her  side,  and  offered  his 
hand. 


305 

"  Pardon,  Sire,"  she  added,  taking  the  hand.  "  It 
is  necessary  that  I  speak  to  the  Dean." 

And  when  the  worthy  came  to  her,  she  said  to  him : 
"Beyond  this,  under  the  portico,  are  refreshments 
for  His  Majesty's  suite.  Serve  me,  I  pray,  by  lead- 
ing thy  colleagues  thither,  and  representing  me  at 
the  tables.  Command  the  servants  whom  thou  wilt 
find  there." 

Now  the  reader  must  not  suppose  he  is  having  in 
the  foregoing  descriptions  examples  of  the  style  of 
ceremonials  most  in  fashion  at  the  Greek  court. 
Had  formality  been  intended,  the  affair  would  have 
been  the  subject  of  painstaking  consideration  at  a 
meeting  of  officials  in  the  imperial  residence,  and 
every  point  within  foresight  arranged ;  after  which 
the  revolution  of  the  earth  might  have  quickened, 
and  darkness  been  unnaturally  precipitated,  with- 
out inducing  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  pro- 
gramme. 

When  resolving  upon  the  visit,  Constantine  con- 
siderately thought  of  the  Princess'  abhorrence  of 
formality,  and  not  to  surprise  her,  despatched  the 
Dean  with  notice  of  the  honor  intended.  Where- 
upon she  arranged  the  reception  to  suit  herself ;  that 
is,  so  as  to  remain  directress  of  the  occasion.  Hence 
the  tables  under  the  portico  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  great  lords,  with  the  garden  open  to  them  after- 
ward. This  management,  it  will  be  perceived,  left 
Constantine  in  her  separate  charge. 

So,  while  the  other  guests  went  with  the  Dean, 
she  conducted  the  Emperor  to  the  reception  room, 
where  there  were  no  flowers,  and  but  one  armless 
chair.  When  he  was  seated,  the  two  alone,  she 
knelt  before  him,  and  without  giving  him  time  to 
speak,  said,  her  hands  crossed  upon  her  bosom : 

30 


306 

"  I  thank  my  Lord  for  sending  me  notice  of  his 
coming,  and  of  his  purpose  to  invite  me  to  share  his 
throne.  All  night  I  have  kept  the  honor  he  intended 
me  in  mind,  believing  the  Blessed  Mother  would 
listen  to  my  prayers  for  wisdom  and  right  direction ; 
and  the  peace  and  confidence  I  feel,  now  that  I  am 
at  my  Lord's  feet,  must  be  from  her.  .  .  .  Oh,  my 
Lord,  the  trial  has  not  been  what  I  should  do  with 
the  honor,  but  how  to  defend  you  from  humiliation 
in  the  eyes  of  your  court.  I  wish  to  be  at  the  same 
time  womanly  and  allegiant.  How  gentle  and  mer- 
ciful you  have  been  to  me !  How  like  a  benignant  God 
to  my  poor  father !  If  I  am  in  error,  may  Heaven 
forgive  me ;  but  I  have  led  you  here  to  say,  without 
waiting  for  the  formal  proposal,  that  while  you  have 
my  love  as  a  kinswoman  and  subject,  I  cannot  give 
you  the  love  you  should  have  from  a  wife." 

Constantine  was  astonished. 

"What!  "he  said. 

Before  he  could  get  further,  she  continued,  sinking 
lower  at  his  feet: 

"Ah  me,  my  Lord,  if  now  thou  art  thinking  me 
bold  and  forward,  and  outcast  from  natural  pride, 
what  can  I  but  plead  the  greater  love  I  bear  you  as 
my  benefactor  and  sovereign  ?  ...  It  may  be  im- 
modest to  thus  forestall  my  Lord's  honorable  intent, 
and  decline  being  his  wife  before  he  has  himself  pro- 
posed it;  yet  I  pray  him  to  consider  that  with  this 
avowal  from  me,  he  may  go  hence  and  affirm,  God 
approving  the  truth,  that  he  thought  better  of  his 
design,  and  did  not  make  me  any  overture  of  mar- 
riage, and  there  will  be  no  one  to  suffer  but  me. 
.  .  .  The  evil-minded  will  talk,  and  judge  me 
punished  for  my  presumption.  Against  them  I  shall 
always  have  a  pure  conscience,  and  the  knowledge 


307 

of  having  rescued  my  Lord  from  an  associate  on  his 
throne  who  does  not  love  him  with  wifely  devotion." 

Pausing  there,  the  Princess  looked  into  his  face, 
her  own  suffused.  His  head  drooped ;  insomuch  that 
the  tall  helmet  with  its  glitter,  and  the  cuirass,  and 
fine  mail  reenforced  by  the  golden  spurs  and  jew- 
elled sword  and  sword-harness,  but  deepened  the  im- 
pression of  pain  bewrayed  on  his  countenance. 

"  Then  it  is  as  I  have  heard,"  he  said,  dejectedly. 
"  The  rustic  hind  may  have  the  mate  of  his  choice, 
and  there  is  preference  allowed  the  bird  and  wild 
wolf.  The  eye  of  faith  beholds  marriages  of  love  in 
meeting  waters  and  in  clouds  brought  together  from 
diverse  parts.  Only  Kings  are  forbidden  to  select 
mates  as  their  hearts  declare.  I,  a  master  of  life  and 
death,  cannot  woo,  like  other  men." 

The  Princess  moved  nearer  him. 

"My  Lord,"  she  said,  earnestly,  "is  it  not  better  to 
be  denied  choice  than  to  be  denied  after  choosing  ? '' 

"Speakest  thou  from  experience  ? "  he  asked. 

"No, "she  answered,  "I  have  never  known  love 
except  of  all  God's  creatures  alike." 

"Whence  thy  wisdom  then  ? " 

"  Perhaps  it  is  only  a  whisper  of  pride." 

"  Perhaps,  perhaps !  I  only  know  the  pain  it  was 
intended  to  relieve  goes  on."  Then,  regarding  her 
moodily,  not  angrily,  nor  even  impatiently,  he  con- 
tinued: "  Did  I  not  know  thee  true  as  thou  art  fair, 

0  Princess,  and  good  and  sincere  as  thou  art  brave, 

1  might  suspect  thee. " 

"Of  what,  my  Lord?" 

"  Of  an  intent  to  compass  my  misery.  Thou  dost 
stop  my  mouth.  I  may  not  declare  the  purpose  with 
which  I  came — I  to  whom  it  was  of  most  interest — 
or  if  I  do,  I  am  forestopped  saying,  '  I  thought  better 


308 

of  it,  and  told  her  nothing.'  Yet  it  was  an  honorable 
purpose  nursed  by  sweet  dreams,  and  by  hopes  such 
as  souls  feed  upon,  strengthening  themselves  for 
trials  of  life ;  I  must  carry  it  back  with  me,  not  for 
burial  in  my  own  breast,  but  for  gossips  to  rend  and 
tear,  and  make  laughter  of — the  wonder  and  amuse- 
ment of  an  unfeeling  city.  How  many  modes  of 
punishment  God  keeps  in  store  for  the  chastening  of 
those  who  love  Him ! " 

"  It  is  beggarly  saying  I  sympathize  " — 

"No,  no — wait!"  he  cried,  passionately.  "Now 
it  breaks  upon  me.  I  may  not  offer  thee  a  seat  on 
my  throne,  or  give  a  hand  to  help  thee  up  to  it ;  for 
the  present  I  will  not  declare  I  love  thee ;  yet  harm 
cannot  come  of  telling  thee  what  has  been.  Thou 
hadst  my  love  at  our  first  meeting.  I  loved  thee 
then.  As  a  man  I  loved  thee,  nor  less  as  an  Emperor 
because  a  man.  Thou  wast  lovely  with  the  loveli- 
ness of  the  angels.  I  saw  thee  in  a  light  not  of  earth, 
and  thou  wert  transparent  as  the  light.  I  descended 
from  the  throne  to  thee  thinking  thou  hadst  collected 
all  the  radiance  of  the  sun  wasting  in  the  void  be- 
tween stars,  and  clothed  thyself  in  it." 

"Oh,  my  Lord"— 

"Not  yet,  not  yet"— 

"  Blasphemy  and  madness!  " 

"Be  it  so!  "  he  answered,  with  greater  intensity. 
"This  once  I  speak  as  a  lover  who  was — a  lover 
making  last  memories  of  the  holy  passion,  to  be 
henceforth  accounted  dead.  Dead  ?  Ah,  yes ! — to 
me — dead  to  me ! " 

She  timidly  took  the  hand  he  dropped  upon  his 
knee  at  the  close  of  a  long  sigh. 

"It  may  rest  my  Lord  to  hear  me,"  she  said,  tear- 
fully. "  I  never  doubted  his  fitness  to  be  Emperor, 


309 

or  if  ever  I  had  such  a  doubt,  it  is  no  more.  He  has 
conquered  himself!  Indeed,  indeed,  it  is  sweet  to 
hear  him  tell  his  love,  for  I  am  woman;  and  if  I 
cannot  give  it  back  measure  for  measure,  this  much 
may  be  accepted  by  him — I  have  never  loved  a  man, 
and  if  the  future  holds  such  a  condition  in  store  for 
me,  I  will  think  of  my  Lord,  and  his  strength  and 
triumph,  and  in  my  humbler  lot  do  as  he  has  so 
nobly  done.  He  has  his  Empire  to  engage  him,  and 
fill  his  hours  with  duties ;  I  have  God  to  serve  and 
obey  with  singleness.  Out  of  the  prison  where  my 
mother  died,  and  in  which  my  father  grew  old 
counting  his  years  as  they  slowly  wore  away,  a  shad- 
ow issued,  and  is  always  at  hand  to  ask  me,  '  Who 
art  thou  ?  What  right  hast  thou  to  happiness  ? '  And 
if  ever  I  fall  into  the  thought  so  pleasant  to  woman, 
of  loving  and  being  loved,  and  of  marriage,  the 
shadow  intervenes,  and  abides  with  me  until  I  behold 
myself  again  bounden  to  religion,  a  servant  vowed 
to  my  fellow  creatures  sick,  suffering,  or  in  sorrow.1 

Then  the  gentle  Emperor  fell  to  pitying  her,  and 
asked,  forgetful  of  himself,  and  thinking  of  things 
to  lighten  her  lot,  "  Wilt  thou  never  marry  ?" 

"I  will  not  say  no,  my  Lord,"  she  answered. 
"Who  can  foresee  the  turns  of  life?  Take  thou 
this  in  reply — never  will  I  surrender  myself  to  wed- 
lock under  urgency  of  love  alone.  But  comes  there 
some  great  emergency,  when,  by  such  sacrifice,  I 
may  save  my  country,  or  my  countrymen  in  multi- 
tude, or  restore  our  holy  religion  overthrown  or  in 
danger,  then,  for  the  direct  God-service  there  may 
be  in  it,  I  could  give  myself  in  contract,  and  would." 

"  Without  love  ?  "  he  asked. 

"Yes,  without  loving  or  being  loved.  This  body 
is  not  mine,  but  God's,  and  He  may  demand  it  of 


310 

»e  for  the  good  of  my  fellow-men ;  and,  so  there  be 
no  tarnishment  of  the  spirit,  my  Lord,  why  haggle 
about  the  husk  in  which  the  spirit  is  hidden  ? " 

She  spoke  with  enthusiasm.  Doubt  of  her  sin- 
cerity would  have  been  blasphemous.  That  such 
fate  should  be  for  her,  so  bright,  pure  and  heroic! 
Not  while  he  had  authority !  And  in  the  instant  he 
vowed  himself  to  care  of  her  by  resolution  strong  as 
an  oath.  In  thought  of  the  uncertainties  lowering 
over  his  own  future,  he  saw  it  was  better  she  should 
remain  vowed  to  Heaven  than  to  himself ;  thereupon 
he  arose,  and  standing  at  her  side,  laid  a  hand  lightly 
upon  her  head,  and  said  solemnly : 

"Thou  hast  chosen  wisely.  May  the  Blessed 
Mother,  and  all  the  ministering  angels,  in  most  holy 
company,  keep  guard  lest  thbu  be  overtaken  by 
calamity,  sorrow  and  disappointment.  And,  for  me, 
O  Irene!  "—his  voice  shook  with  emotion — "  I  shall 
be  content  if  now  thou  wilt  accept  me  for  thy  father." 

She  raised  her  eyes,  as  to  Heaven,  and  said,  smil- 
ing: "Dear  God!  How  Thou  dost  multiply  good- 
nesses, and  shower  them  upon  me !  " 

He  stooped,  and  kissed  her  forehead. 

"  Amen,  sweet  daughter!  " 

Then  he  helped  her  to  her  feet. 

"  Now,  while  thou  wert  speaking,  Irene,  it  was 
given  me  to  see  how  the  betrothal  I  was  determined 
upon  would  have  been,  a  crime  aside  from  wresting 
thee  from  the  service  of  thy  choice.  Phranza  is  a 
true  and  faithful  servant.  How  know  I  but,  within 
his  powers,  and  as  he  lawfully  might,  he  has  con- 
tracted me  by  treaty  to  acceptance  of  the  Georgian  ? 
Thou  hast  saved  me,  and  my  ancient  Chamberlain. 
Those  under  the  portico  are  conspirators.  But  come, 
let  us  join  them." 


CHAPTER  XVHI 
THE   SINGING   SHEIK 

IT  was  about  ten  o'clock  when  the  Emperor  and 
Princess  Irene  appeared  on  the  portico,  and,  moving 
toward  the  northern  side,  wended  slowly  through  the 
labyrinth  of  flowers,  palms,  and  shrubs.  The  court- 
iers and  dignitaries,  upon  their  approach,  received 
them  in  respectful  silence,  standing  in  groups  about 
the  tables. 

A  chair,  with  arms,  high  back,  and  a  canopy,  look- 
ing not  unlike  a  sedilium,  had  been  s,et  in  an  open 
space.  The  reservation  was  further  marked  by  a 
table  in  front  of  the  chair,  and  two  broad-branched 
palm  trees,  one  on  each  side.  Thither  the  Princess 
conducted  the  sovereign  ;  and  when  he  was  seated, 
at  a  signal  from  her,  some  chosen  attendants  came 
bearing  refresnments,  cold  meats,  bread,  fruits,  and 
wines  in  crystal  flagons,  which  they  placed  on  the 
table,  and  retiring  a  little  way,  remained  in  waiting, 
while  their  mistress,  on  a  stool  at  the  left  of  the 
board,  did  the  honors. 

The  introduction  of  a  queen  into  a  palace  is  usually 
the  signal  for  a  change  of  the  existing  domestic  re- 
gime. Old  placeholders  go  out;  new  favorites  come 
in ;  and  not  seldom  the  revolution  reaches  the  highest 
official  circles  of  the  government.  The  veterans  of 
the  suite,  to  some  of  whom  this  bit  of  knowledge  had 


312 

come  severely  home,  were  very  watchful  of  the  two 
superior  personages.  Had  His  Majesty  really  exposed 
his  intent  to  the  Princess  ?  Had  he  declared  himself 
to  her  ?  Had  she  accepted  ?  The  effect  was  to  trebly 
sharpen  the  eyes  past  which  the  two  were  required  to 
go  on  their  way  to  the  reserved  table. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  Phranza,  the  Grand 
Chamberlain,  at  the  moment  absent  on  a  diplomatic 
search  for  an  imperial  consort.  Of  all  attaches  of  the 
court,  he  was  first  in  his  master's  regard ;  and  the  dis- 
tinction, it  is  but  just  to  say,  was  due  to  his  higher 
qualities  and  superior  character.  The  term  favorite, 
as  a  definition  of  relationship  between  a  despot  and  a 
dependent,  is  historically  cloudy;  wherefore  it  is  in 
this  instance  of  unfair  application.  Intimate  or  con- 
fidante is  much  more  exactly  descriptive.  But  be  that 
as  it  may,  the  good  understanding  between  the  Em- 
peror and  his  Grand  Chamberlain  was  amply  suffi- 
cient to  provoke  the  jealousy  of  many  of  the  latter's 
colleagues,  of  whom  Duke  Notaras,  Grand  Admiral, 
and  the  most  powerful  noble  of  the  Empire,  was  head 
and  front.  The  scheme  for  the  elevation  of  the  Prin- 
cess to  the  throne  originated  with  him,  and  was  aimed 
malevolently  at  Phranza,  of  whom  he  was  envious, 
and  Constantine,  whom  he  hated  on  religious  grounds. 
Interest  in  the  plot  brought  him  to  Therapia;  yet  he 
held  himself  aloof,  preferring  the  attitude  of  a  specta- 
tor coldly  polite  to  that  of  an  active  partisan  in  the 
affair.  He  declined  sitting  at  a  table,  but  took  posi- 
tion between  two  of  the  columns  whence  the  view  of 
the  bay  was  best.  There  were  numbers  of  the  suite, 
however,  who  discredited  the  motive  with  which  he 
chose  the  place. 

"  See  Notaras,"  said  one  of  a  group,  whispering  to 
friends  drinking  wine  a  little  way  off.  "  The  scene 


313 

before  him  is  charming,  but  is  he  charmed  with  it  as 
he  appears  ? " 

"There  was  an  old  demi-god  with  an  eye  in  his 
forehead.  Notaras'  best  orb  just  now  is  in  the  back 
of  his  head.  He  may  be  looking  at  the  bay;  he  is 
really  watching  the  portico  " — such  was  the  reply. 

' '  Out !    He  cares  nothing  for  us. " 

"  Very  true — we  are  not  the  Emperor." 

' '  My  Lord  Duke  is  not  happy  to-day, "  was  remarked 
in  another  coterie. 

"  Wait,  my  dear  friend.     The  day  is  young." 

"  If  this  match  should  not  be  made  after  all " — 

"  He  will  know  it  first." 

"Yes,  nothing  from  the  lovers,  neither  smile  nor 
sigh,  can  escape  him." 

The  Professor  of  Philosophy  and  his  brother  the 
Professor  of  Rhetoric  ate  and  drank  together,  illus- 
trating the  affinity  of  learning. 

"Our  Phranza  is  in  danger,"  said  the  latter,  ner- 
vously. "  As  thou  art  a  subscriber  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Phaedon,  I  wish  we  could  disembody  our  souls,  if 
only  for  an  hour." 

"  Oh,  a  singular  wish !     What  wouldst  thou  ?  " 

"  Tell  it  not;  but " — the  voice  dropped  into  a  whis- 
per— "I  would  despatch  mine  in  search  of  the  wise 
Chamberlain  to  warn  him  of  what  is  here  in  prac- 
tice." 

"  Ah,  my  brother,  thou  didst  me  the  honor  to  read 
and  approve  my  treatise  on  the  Philosophy  of  Conspir- 
acy. Dost  thou  remember  the  confounding  elements 
given  in  the  thesis  ?  " 

"  Yes — Goodness  is  one." 

"Under  condition;  that  is,  when  the  result  is  de- 
pendent upon  a  party  of  virtuous  disposition." 

"  I  remember  now." 


814 

"  Well,  we  have  the  condition  here." 

4 'The  Princess!" 

"  And  therefore  the  Duke,  not  our  Phranza,  is  in 
danger.  She  will  discomfit  him." 

"  May  Heaven  dispose  so!  "  And  the  Rhetorician 
almost  immediately  added,  ' '  Observe  thou.  Notaras 
has  established  himself  within  easy  hearing  of  the  two. 
He  has  actually  invaded  the  space  reserved  for  them." 

"  As  if  to  confirm  my  forecast !  " 

Then  the  Philosopher  raised  a  cup. 

"To  Phranza!" 

"  To  Phranza!  "  the  Rhetorician  responded. 

This  episode  hardly  concluded  when  the  Emperor's 
brother  sauntered  to  the  Duke's  side;  and  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Emperor  and  the  Princess,  he  ex- 
claimed, enthusiastically: 

"Come  of  it  what  may,  my  Lord,  the  damsel  is 
comely,  and  I  fear  not  to  compare  her  with  the  bej»t 
of  Trebizond  or  Georgia." 

The  Duke  did  not  answer.  Indeed,  the  lords  were 
all  intent  upon  exactly  the  same  subject.  Whether 
there  had  been  an  overture  and  an  acceptance,  or  a» 
overture  and  a  declination,  they  believed  the  princi- 
pals could  not  conceal  the  result;  a  look,  a  gesture,  or 
something  in  the  manner  of  one  or  both  of  them, 
would  tell  the  tale  to  eyes  of  such  practical  discern- 
ment. By  the  greater  number  the  information  would 
be  treated  as  news  for  discussion  merely;  a  few  had 
hopes  or  fears  at  stake;  none  of  them  was  so  peril- 
ously involved  as  Notaras;  in  his  view,  failure  meant 
the  promotion  of  Phranza,  of  all  consequences,  not 
excepting  his  own  loss  of  favor  and  prestige,  the  most 
intolerable. 

On  the  other  part,  Constantine  was  not  less  con- 
cerned in  misleading  his  court.  At  the  proper  time 


315 

he  would  give  out  that  he  had  changed  his  mind  at 
the  last  moment ;  before  engaging  himself  to  the  Prin- 
cess, he  had  concluded  it  best  to  wait  and  hear  from 
Phranza.  Accordingly,  in  passing  along  the  portico, 
he  endeavored  to  look  and  behave  like  a  guest;  he 
conversed  in  an  ordinary  tone ;  he  suffered  his  hostess 
to  precede  him;  and,  well  seconded  by  her,  he  was 
installed  in  the  state  chair,  without  an  argument  yes 
or  no  for  the  sharp  reviewers.  At  the  table  he  ap- 
peared chiefly  solicitous  to  appease  an  unusual  hun- 
ger, which  he  charged  to  the  early  morning  air  on  the 
Bosphorus. 

Notaras,  whom  nothing  of  incident,  demeanor  or 
remark  escaped,  began  very  early  to  be  apprehensive. 
Upon  beholding  his  master's  unlover-like  concession 
to  appetite,  he  remarked  sullenly,  "  Verily,  either  his 
courage  failed,  and  he  did  not  submit  a  proposal,  or 
she  has  rejected  him." 

"My  Lord  Duke,"  the  Emperor's  brother  replied, 
somewhat  stung,  "dost  thou  believe  it  in  woman  to 
refuse  such  an  honor  ?  " 

"Sir,"  the  Duke  retorted,  "women  who  go  about 
unveiled  are  above  or  below  judgment." 

The  Princess,  in  her  place  at  the  table,  began  then 
to  recount  her  adventure  at  the  White  Castle,  but 
when  far  enough  in  the  recital  to  indicate  its  course 
the  Emperor  interrupted  her. 

"  Stay,  daughter,"  he  said,  gently.  "  The  incident 
may  prove  of  international  interest.  If  not  objection- 
able to  you,  I  should  be  pleased  to  have  some  of  my 
friends  hear  it."  Then  raising  his  voice,  he  called 
out:  "Notaras,  and  thou,  my  brother,  come,  stand 
here.  Our  fair  hostess  had  yesterday  an  astonishing 
experience  with  the  Turks  on  the  other  shore,  and  I 
have  prevailed  on  her  to  narrate  it." 


816 

The  two  responded  to  the  invitation  by  drawing 
nearer  the  Emperor  at  his  right  hand. 

"  Proceed  now,  daughter,"  the  latter  said. 

"  Daughter,  daughter,  indeed!  "  the  Duke  repeated 
to  himself,  and  so  bitterly  it  may  be  doubted  if  his 
master's  diplomacy  availed  to  put  him  at  rest.  The 
paternalism  of  the  address  was  decisive — Phranza  had 
won. 

Then,  presently  overcoming  her  confusion,  the  Prin- 
cess succeeded  in  giving  a  simple  but  clear  account  of 
how  she  was  driven  to  the  Castle,  and  of  what  befell 
her  while  there.  When  she  finished,  the  entire  suite 
were  standing  about  the  table  listening. 

Twice  she  had  been  interrupted  by  the  Emperor. 

"  A  moment!  "  he  said  to  her,  while  she  was  speak- 
ing of  the  Turkish  soldiery  whose  arrival  at  the  an- 
cient stronghold  had  been  so  nearly  simultaneous  with 
her  own.  Then  he  addressed  himself  to  the  Grand 
Domestic  and  the  Admiral.  "My  Lords,  in  passing 
the  Castle,  on  our  way  up,  you  remember  I  bade  the 
pilot  take  our  ship  near  the  shore  there.  It  seemed  to 
me  the  garrison  was  showing  unusually  large,  while 
the  flags  on  the  donjon  were  strange,  and  the  tents 
and  horses  around  the  walls  implied  an  army  present. 
You  remember  ? " 

"And  we  have  now,  Sire,  the  justification  of  your 
superior  wisdom,"  the  Grand  Domestic  replied,  rising 
from  a  low  salutation. 

"  I  recall  the  circumstance,  my  Lords,  to  enjoin  you 
not  to  suffer  the  affair  to  slip  attention  when  next  we 
meet  in  council — I  pray  pardon,  daughter,  for  break- 
ing the  thread  of  your  most  interesting  and  important 
narrative.  I  am  prepared  to  listen  further." 

Then,  after  description  of  the  Governor,  and  his  re- 
ception of  the  fugitives  on  the  landing,  His  Majesty, 


317 

with  apologies,  asked  permission  to  offer  another  in? 
quiry. 

"  Of  a  truth,  daughter,  the  picture  thou  hast  given 
us  under  the  title  of  Governor  beareth  no  likeness  to 
him  who  hath  heretofore  responded  to  that  dignity. 
At  various  times  I  have  had  occasion  to  despatch 
messengers  to  the  commandant,  and  returning,  they 
have  reported  him  a  coarse,  unrefined,  brutish-looking 
person,  of  middle  age  and  low  rank;  and  much  I 
marvel  to  hear  the  freedom  with  which  this  person 
doth  pledge  my  august  friend  and  ally,  Sultan  Amu- 
rath.  My  Lords,  this  will  furnish  us  an  additional 
point  of  investigation.  Obviously  the  Castle  is  of 
military  importance,  requiring  an  old  head  full  of  ex- 
perience to  keep  it  regardful  of  peace  and  clear  under- 
standing between  the  powers  plying  the  Bosphorus. 
We  are  always  to  be  apprehensive  of  the  fire  there  is 
in  young  blood." 

"With  humility,  Your  Majesty,"  said  the  Grand 
Domestic,  "I  should  like  to  hear  from  the  Princess, 
whose  loveliness  is  now  not  more  remarkable  than 
her  courage  and  discretion,  the  evidence  she  has  for  the 
opinion  that  the  young  man  is  really  the  Governor." 

She  was  about  to  reply  when  Lysander,  the  old  ser- 
vant, elbowed  himself  through  the  brilliant  circle, 
and  dropped  his  javelin  noisily  by  her  chair. 

"  A  stranger  calling  himself  an  Arab  is  at  the  gate," 
he  said  to  her,  with  the  semblance  of  a  salutation. 

The  simplicity  of  the  ancient,  his  zeal  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  office,  his  obliviousness  to  the  imperial 
presence,  caused  a  ripple  of  amusement. 

"  An  Arab ! "  the  Princess  exclaimed,  in  momentary 
forgetfulness.  "  How  does  the  man  appear  ?" 

Lysander  was  in  turn  distraught ;  after  a  short  de- 
lay, however,  he  managed  to  answer:  "His  face  is 


318 

dark,  almost  black ;  his  head  is  covered  with  a  great 
cloth  of  silk  and  gold ;  a  gown  hides  him  from  neck 
to  heels ;  in  his  girdle  there  is  a  dagger.  He  has  a 
lordly  air,  and  does  not  seem  in  the  least  afraid.  In 
brief,  my  mistress,  he  looks  as  if  he  might  be  king  of 
all  the  camel  drivers  in  the  world." 

The  description  was  unexpectedly  graphic ;  even  the 
Emperor  smiled,  while  many  of  the  tram,  presuming 
license  from  his  amusement,  laughed  aloud.  In  the 
midst  of  the  merriment,  the  Princess,  calmly,  and 
with  scarce  a  change  from  her  ordinary  tone,  pro- 
ceeded to  an  explanation. 

"Your  Majesty,"  she  said,  "I  am  reminded  of  an 
invitation  left  with  the  person  whose  identity  was  in 
discussion  the  instant  of  this  announcement.  In  the 
afternoon,  while  I  was  sojourning  in  the  White  Castle, 
an  Arab  story-teller  was  presented  to  me  under  recom- 
mendation of  my  courteous  host.  He  was  said  to  be 
of  great  professional  renown  in  the  East,  a  Sheik 
travelling  to  Adrianople  for  the  divertisement  of  the 
Hanoum  of  the  Sultan.  In  the  desert  they  call  him 
endearingly  the  Singing  Sheik.  I  was  glad  to  have 
the  hours  assisted  in  their  going,  and  he  did  not  dis- 
appoint me.  So  charmed  was  I  by  his  tales  and  man- 
ner of  telling  them,  by  his  genius,  that  in  taking  my 
departure  from  what  proved  a  most  agreeable  retreat, 
and  in  acknowledging  the  hospitable  entertainment 
given  me,  I  referred  to  the  singer,  and  requested  the 
Governor  to  prevail  on  him  to  extend  his  journey  here, 
in  order  to  favor  me  with  another  opportunity  to  hear 
him.  Had  I  then  known  it  was  in  my  Lord's  purposes 
to  visit  me  with  such  a  company  of  most  noble  gentle- 
men, or  could  I  have  even  anticipated  the  honor,  I 
should  not  have  appointed  to-day  for  the  audience 
with  him.  But  he  is  in  attendance;  and  now,  with 


319 

full  understanding  of  the  circumstances,  it  is  for  Your 
Majesty  to  pronounce  upon  his  admission.  Perhaps  " 
— she  paused  with  a  look  of  deprecation  fairly  divisible 
share  and  share  alike  between  the  Emperor  and  the 
Lords  around  her — "perhaps  time  may  hang  heavy 
with  my  guests  this  morning ;  if  so,  I  shall  hold  my- 
self obliged  to  the  Singing  Sheik  if  he  can  help  me 
entertain  them." 

Now,  was  there  one  present  to  attach  a  criticism  to 
the  favor  extended  the  Arab,  he  dismissed  it  summa- 
rily, wondering  at  her  easy  grace.  The  Emperor  no 
doubt  shared  the  admiration  with  his  suite ;  but  con- 
cealing it,  he  said,  with  an  air  of  uncertainty,  "  Thy 
recommendation,  daughter,  is  high ;  and  if  I  remain, 
verily,  it  will  be  with  expectation  wrought  up  to  a 
dangerous  degree ;  yet  having  often  heard  of  the  power 
of  the  strolling  poets  of  whom  this  one  is  in  probability 
an  excellent  example,  I  confess  I  should  be  pleased  to 
have  thee  admit  him." 

Of  the  Admiral,  he  then  asked,  "We  were  to  set 
out  in  return  about  noon,  were  we  not  ? " 

"  About  noon,  Your  Majesty." 

"Well,  the  hour  is  hardly  upon  us.  Let  the  man 
appear,  daughter;  only,  as  thou  lovest  us,  contrive 
that  he  keep  to  short  recitals,  which,  without  holding 
us  unwillingly,  will  yet  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  his 
mind  and  methods.  And  keep  thyself  prepared  for 
an  announcement  of  our  departure,  and  when  received, 
mistake  it  not  for  discontent  with  thyself.  Admit  the 
Arab." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

TWO   TUBKISH   TALES 

THE  situation  now  offered  the  reader  is  worth  a 
pause,  if  only  to  fix  it  in  mind. 

Constantine  and  Mahommed,  soon  to  be  contestants 
in  war,  are  coming  face  to  face,  lovers  both  of  the 
same  woman.  The  romance  is  obvious;  yet  it  is 
heightened  by  another  circumstance.  One  of  them  is 
in  danger. 

We  of  course  know  Aboo-Obeidah,  the  Singing 
Sheik,  is  Prince  Mahommed  in  disguise ;  we  know  the 
Prince  also  as  heir  of  Amurath  the  Sultan,  a  very  old 
man  liable  to  vacate  place  and  life  at  any  moment. 
Suppose  now  the  rash  adventurer — the  term  fits  the 
youth  truly  as  if  he  were  without  rank — should  be 
discovered  and  denounced  to  the  Emperor.  The  con- 
sequences can  only  be  treated  conjecturally. 

In  the  first  place,  to  what  extremities  the  Prince 
would  be  put  in  explaining  his  presence  there.  He 
could  plead  the  invitation  of  the  Princess  Irene.  But 
his  rival  would  be  his  judge,  and  the  judge  might  find 
it  convenient  to  laugh  at  the  truth,  and  rest  his  decis- 
ion on  the  prisoner's  disguise,  in  connection  with  his 
own  presence — two  facts  sufficiently  important  to  serve 
the  most  extreme  accusation. 

Constantine,  next,  was  a  knightly  monarch  who 
knew  to  live  nobly,  and  dared  die  as  he  lived;  yet, 
thinking  of  what  he  might  do  with  Mahommed  fallen 


into  his  hands  under  circumstances  so  peculiar,  there 
was  never  a  Caesar  not  the  slave  of  policy.  In  the  au- 
dience to  Manuel  the  sailor,  we  have  seen  how  keenly 
sensitive  he  was  to  the  contraction  the  empire  had  suf- 
fered. Since  that  day,  to  be  sure,  he  had  managed  to 
keep  the  territory  he  came  to;  none  the  less,  he  felt 
the  Turk  to  whom  the  stolen  provinces  invariably  fell 
was  his  enemy,  and  that  truce  or  treaty  with  him  did 
not  avail  to  loosen  the  compression  steadily  growing- 
around  his  capital.  Over  and  over,  daytime  and 
night,  the  unhappy  Emperor  pondered  the  story  of  the 
daughter  of  Tantalus ;  and  often,  starting  from  dreams 
in  which  the  Ottoman  power  was  a  serpent  slowly 
crawling  to  its  victim,  he  would  cry  in  real  agony — 
"  O  Constantinople — Niobe!  Who  can  save  thee  but 
God  ?  And  if  He  will  not — alas,  alas ! "  The  feeling* 
thus  engendered  was  not  of  a  kind  to  yield  readily  to- 
generosity.  Mahommed  once  securely  his,  everything 
might  be  let  go — truth,  honor,  glory — everything  but 
the  terms  of  advantage  purchasable  with  such  an 
hostage. 

The  invitation  to  the  imaginary  Sheik  had  been  a 
last  act  of  grace  by  Irene,  about  to  embark  for  the 
city.  Mahommed,  when  he  accepted,  knew  Therapia 
by  report  a  village  very  ancient  historically,  but  de- 
caying, and  now  little  more  than  a  summer  resort  and 
depot  of  supplies  for  fishermen.  That  its  proverbial 
quietude  would  be  disturbed,  and  the  sleepy  blood  of 
its  inhabitants  aroused,  by  a  royal  galley  anchoring  in 
the  bay  to  discharge  the  personnel  of  the  empire  itself, 
could  have  had  no  place  in  his  anticipations.  So  when 
he  stepped  into  a  boat,  the  Aboo-Obeidah  of  his  eulogy, 
and  suffered  himself,  without  an  attendant,  to  be  fer- 
ried across  to  Roumeli-Hissar ;  when  he  there  took 
an  humble  wherry  of  two  oars,  and  bade  the  unliveried 
21 


Greeks  who  served  them  pull  for  Therapia,  it  was  to 
see  again  the  woman  who  was  taking  his  fancy  into 
possession,  not  Constantino  and  his  court  bizarre  hi 
splendor  and  habitude.  In  other  words,  Mahommed 
on  setting  out  had  no  idea  of  danger.  Love,  or  some- 
thing very  like  it,  was  his  sole  inspiration. 

The  trireme,  with  the  white  cross  on  its  red  sail,  its 
deck  a  martial  and  courtly  spectacle,  had  been  reported 
to  him  as  the  hundred  and  twenty  flashing  scarlet 
blades,  in  their  operation  a  miracle  of  unity,  whisked 
it  by  the  old  Castle,  and  he  had  come  forth  to  see  it. 
Where  are  they  going  ?  he  asked  those  around  him ; 
and  they,  familiar  with  the  Bosphorus,  its  shipping 
and  navigation,  answered  unanimously,  To  exercise 
her  crew  up  in  the  Black  Sea ;  and  thinking  of  the 
breadth  of  the  dark  blue  fields  there,  the  reply  com- 
mended itself,  and  he  dismissed  the  subject. 

The  course  chosen  by  his  boatmen  when  they  put 
off  from  Roumeli-Hissar  kept  him  close  to  the  Euro- 
pean shore,  which  he  had  leisure  to  study.  Then,  as 
now,  it  was  more  favored  than  its  Asiatic  opposite. 
The  winds  from  the  sea,  southward  blowing,  unloaded 
their  mists  to  vivify  its  ivy  and  myrtle.  The  sunlight, 
tarrying  longest  over  its  pine-clad  summits,  coaxed 
habitations  along  the  shore;  here,  a  palace;  there, 
under  an  overhanging  cliff,  a  hamlet ;  yonder,  a  long 
extended  village  complaisantly  adapting  itself  to  the 
curvatures  of  the  brief  margin  left  it  for  occupancy. 
Wherever  along  the  front  of  the  heights  and  on  the 
top  there  was  room  for  a  field  the  advantage  had  been 
seized.  So  the  Prince  had  offered  him  the  sight  of  all 
others  most  significant  of  peace  among  men — sight  of 
farmers  tilling  the  soil.  With  the  lucid  sky  above 
him  summer-laden,  the  water  under  and  about  him  a 
liquid  atmosphere,  the  broken  mountain-face  chang- 


ing  from  lovely  to  lovelier,  and  occasionally  awaken- 
ing  him  with  a  superlative  splendor,  the  abodes  so 
near,  and  the  orchards  and  strawberry  and  melon 
patches  overhead,  symbolizing  goodwill  and  frater- 
nity and  happiness  amongst  the  poor  and  humble — 
with  these,  and  the  rhythmic  beating  of  the  oars  to 
soothe  his  spirit,  fierce  and  mandatory  even  in  youth, 
he  went,  the  time  divided  between  views  fair  enough 
for  the  most  rapturous  dreams,  and  the  Greek,  of 
whom,  with  all  their  brightness,  they  were  but  dim 
suggestions.  Past  the  stream-riven  gorge  of  Balta- 
Liman  he  went;  past  Emirghian;  past  the  haven  of 
Stenia,  and  the  long  shore-town  of  Yenikeui;  then, 
half  turning  the  Keuibachi  bend,  lo !  Therapia,  drag- 
gling down  the  stony  steep,  like  a  heap  of  bangles  on 
a  brown-red  cheek.  And  there,  in  the  soft  embrace- 
ment  of  the  bay,  a  bird  with  folded  wings  asleep — the 
trireme  I 

The  sight  startled  the  Prince.  He  spoke  to  the 
rowers,  and  they  ceased  fighting  the  current,  and 
with  their  chins  over  their  shoulders,  looked  whither 
he  pointed.  From  ship  to  shore  he  looked;  then, 
pursuing  the  curve  inland  to  the  bridge  at  the  upper 
end;  thence  down  what  may  be  called  the  western 
side,  he  beheld  people  crowding  between  a  quay  and 
a  red  kiosk  over  which  pended  a  wooded  promon- 
tory. 

"  There  is  a  Princess  living  in  this  vicinity,"  said  he 
to  one  of  the  rowers,  slightly  lifting  the  handkerchief 
from  his  face.  "  Where  is  her  palace  ? " 

"  In  the  garden  yonder.  You  see  the  gate  over  the 
heads  of  the  men  and  women." 

"  What  is  her  name  ?  " 

"  Princess  Irene.  She  is  known  on  this  shore  as 
the  Good  Princess." 


324 

"  Irene — a  sound  pleasant  to  the  ear  " — Mahommed 
muttered.  "  Why  is  she  called  good  ? " 

"  Because  she  is  an  angel  of  mercy  to  the  poor." 

"That  is  not  usual  with  the  great  and  rich,"  he 
said  next,  yielding  to  a  charm  in  the  encomiums. 

"  Yes,"  the  boatman  responded,  "she  is  great,  being 
akin  to  the  Emperor,  and  rich,  too,  though  " — 

Here  the  man  broke  off  to  assist  in  bringing  the 
boat  back  from  its  recession  with  the  current,  at  this 
point  boisterously  swift. 

"You  were  saying  the  Princess  is  rich,"  Mahommed 
said,  when  the  oars  were  again  at  rest. 

•'  Oh,  yes!  But  I  cannot  tell  you,  my  friend,  how 
many  are  partners  in  her  wealth.  Every  widow  and 
orphan  who  can  get  to  her  comes  away  with  a  por- 
tion. Isn't  it  so  ?  " 

His  companion  grunted  affirmatively,  adding : 
"Down  yonder  a  man  with  a  crooked  back  lives  in 
an  arched  cell  opening  on  the  water.  Perhaps  the 
stranger  saw  it  as  he  came  up." 

"Yes,"  Mahommed  answered. 

"Well,  in  the  back  part  of  the  cell  he  has  an  altar 
with  a  crucifix  and  a  picture  of  the  Blessed  Mother 
on  it,  and  he  keeps  a  candle  burning  before  them 
day  and  night — something  he  could  not  do  if  we  did 
not  help  him,  for  candles  of  wax  are  costly.  He 
has  named  the  altar  after  the  Princess,  Sta.  Irene. 
We  often  stop  and  go  in  there  to  pray ;  and  I  have 
heard  the  blessings  in  the  light  of  that  candle  are 
rich  and  many  as  the  Patriarch  has  for  sale  in  Sta. 
Sophia." 

These  praises  touched  Mahommed;  for,  exalted  as 
he  was  hi  station,  he  was  aware  of  the  proneness  of 
the  poor  to  berate  the  rich  and  grumble  at  the  great, 
and  that  such  had  been  a  habit  with  them  from  the 


325 

«ommencement  of  the  world.  Again  the  boat  slipped 
down  the  current;  when  it  was  brought  back,  he 
asked :  "When  did  the  ship  yonder  come  up  ? " 

"This  morning." 

"Oh,  yes!  I  saw  it  then,  but  thought  the  crew 
were  being  taken  to  the  sea  for  practice." 

"No,"  the  boatman  replied,  "it  is  the  state  galley 
of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor.  Did  you  not  see  him  ? 
He  sat  on  the  throne  with  all  his  ministers  and  court 
ground  him.'y 

Mahommed  was  startled. 

"  Where  is  f,he  Emperor  now  ? "  he  inquired. 

"I  should  say,  seeing  the  crowd  yonder,  that  His 
Majesty  is  in  the  palace  with  the  Princess." 

"Yes,"  said  the  second  rower,  "they  are  waiting 
to  see  him  come  out." 

"Row  out  into  the  bay.  I  should  like  to  have  the 
view  from  that  quarter." 

While  making  the  detour,  Mahommed  reflected. 
Naturally  he  remembered  himself  the  son  of  Amu- 
rath  ;  after  which  it  was  easy  to  marshal  the  conse- 
quences of  exposure,  if  he  persisted  in  his  venture. 
He  saw  distinctly  how  his  capture  would  be  a  basis 
of  vast  bargaining  with  his  father,  or,  if  the  sturdy 
old  warrior  preferred  revenge  to  payment  of  a  ruin- 
ous ransom,  how  the  succession  and  throne  might 
slip  to  another,  leaving  him  a  prisoner  for  life. 

Yet  another  matter  presented  itself  to  him  which 
the  reader  may  decide  worthy  a  separate  paragraph. 
Its  mention  has  been  waiting  this  opportunity.  The 
Prince  from  Magnesia,  his  seat  of  government,  was 
on  the  way  to  Adrianople,  called  thither  by  his  father, 
who  had  chosen  a  bride  for  him,  daughter  of  a  re- 
nowned Emu*.  Kegularly  he  would  have  crossed  the 
Hellespont  at  Gallipoli ;  a  whim,  however,  took  him 


to  the  White  Castle — whim  or  destiny,  one  being 
about  as  satisfactory  as  the  other.  Pondering  silently 
whether  it  were  not  best  to  return,  he  thought, 
apropos  the  Princess  Irene,  of  the  nuptials  to  be  cele- 
brated, and  of  his  bride  expectant;  and  a  Christian, 
pausing  over  the  suggestion,  may  be  disposed  to  con- 
demn him  for  inconstancy. 

In  countries  where  many  wives  are  allowed  the 
same  husband  he  is  not  required  to  love  any  of  them. 
Indeed,  his  fourth  spouse  may  be  the  first  to  com- 
mand him;  hers  the  eyes  for  his  enslavement;  hers 
the  voice  of  the  charmer  charming  both  wisely  and 
forever.  Mahommed  did  now  think  of  the  Emir's 
daughter,  but  not  with  compunction,  nor  even  in 
comparison.  He  had  never  seen  her  face,  and  would 
not  until  after  the  wedding  days.  He  thought  of  her 
but  to  put  her  aside ;  she  could  not  be  as  this  Chris- 
tian was,  neither  so  accomplished  nor  courtly ;  besides 
which,  it  was  dawning  upon  him  that  there  were  graces 
of  mind  and  soul  as  well  as  of  person,  while  per- 
fection was  a  combination  of  all  the  graces  in  equal 
degree.  Gleams  of  the  latter  had  visited  him  while 
gazing  into  the  radiant  face  of  the  Emperor's  kins- 
woman ;  and  how,  at  such  favoring  times,  his  fancy 
had  gone  out  to  her  and  come  back  warmed,  enliv- 
ened, glorified !  There  is  a  passion  of  the  mind  and  a 
passion  of  the  blood ;  and  though  one  and  one  make 
two,  two  is  still  a  multiple  of  one. 

Looking  thus  at  the  galley,  Mahommed  thought  of 
the  tales  in  the  East  not  less  common  than  in  the 
West,  and  believed  in  them  faithfully,  for  chivalry 
was  merely  on  the  wane — tales  of  beauteous  damsels 
shut  up  in  caves  or  adamantine  castles,  with  guardian 
lions  couchant  at  the  gates,  and  of  well-sworded  heroes 
who  marched  boldly  up  to  the  brutes,  and  slew  them, 


and  delivered  the  captives  always  with  reward.  Of 
course,  in  making  the  application,  the  Princess  was 
the  prisoner,  the  ship  the  lion,  and  himself — well,  in 
want  of  a  sword,  he  laid  hand  upon  his  dagger,  pre- 
cisely as  a  liberating  knight  up  to  the  ideal  would  do. 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  revelations  of  the  Prince  of 
India  were  still  fresh  to  him.  He  wished  to  see  his 
competitor.  How  did  he  look  ?  Was  there  enough 
of  him  to  make  battle  ?  He  smiled  thinking  of  the 
pleasure  there  would  be  in  slyly  studying  the  Princess 
and  the  Emperor  at  the  same  tune.  He  drew  the 
handkerchief  down,  looked  at  his  brown-stained  hands, 
and  adjusted  the  folds  of  his  burnouse.  The  disguise 
was  perfect. 

"  Take  me  to  the  landing — there  before  the  gate  of 
the  Good  Princess,"  he  said,  with  the  air  of  a  traveller 
above  suspicion. 

His  resolution  was  taken.  Challenging  all  chances, 
he  would  respond  to  the  invitation  of  the  Princess. 
And  so  completely  were  doubt  and  hesitation  dismissed 
with  our  adventurer,  that  it  was  not  Mahommed  who 
stepped  from  the  boat  where  the  populace  was  in  dens- 
est assemblage,  but  Aboo-Obeidah,  the  Singing  Sheik, 
and  as  such  we  will  speak  of  him. 

The  guard  at  the  gate,  viewing  him  askance,  de- 
tained him  until  he  could  be  reported. 

A  fair  conception  of  the  scene  presented  when  the 
Sheik  stood  on  the  floor  of  the  portico  is  probably  in 
the  reader's  mind ;  yet  a  glance  at  it  may  be  pardoned. 
It  was  at  first  like  a  sudden  introduction  to  an  oriental 
garden.  There  were  the  vines,  flowering  shrubs, 
fruiting  trees,  many-fronded  palms,  and  the  effect  of 
outdoors  derived  from  the  shadows  of  the  pillars,  and 
the  sunshine  streaming  brilliantly  through  the  open 
intervals.  The  tables  bore  proofs  of  the  collation 


826 

served  upon  them.  Overhead  was  the  soft  creami- 
ness  of  pure  marble  in  protected  state  mellowed  by 
friendly  touches  of  time.  At  the  end  of  the  vista,  the 
company  was  indistinctly  visible  through  the  verdure 
of  obtruding  branches.  Voices  came  to  him  from  that 
part,  and  gleams  of  bright  garments;  and  to  get  to 
them  it  seemed  he  must  pass  through  a  viridescent  at- 
mosphere flecked  with  blooms,  and  faintly  sweet  with 
odors.  For  in  losing  the  masculinity  of  their  race  the 
Greeks  devoted  themselves  more  and  more  to  refined 
effeminacies. 

Moving  slowly  forward  under  the  guidance  of  Ly- 
sander,  whose  javelin  beating  the  floor  accentuated 
the  rasping  shuffle  of  his  sandals,  the  Sheik  came  pres- 
ently to  a  full  view  of  the  concourse. 

He  stopped,  partly  in  obedience  to  a  fine  instinct  of 
propriety  teaching  him  he  was  now  subject  to  the 
pleasure  of  his  hostess,  and  partly  to  single  out  the 
royal  enemy  against  whom  he  believed  he  was  about 
to  be  pitted  by  destiny. 

Constantine  was  sitting  at  ease,  his  left  elbow  rest- 
ing on  an  arm  of  the  sedilium,  his  forefinger  support- 
ing his  cheek,  his  cloak  across  his  lap.  The  attitude 
was  reflective;  the  countenance  exposed  under  the 
lifted  visor  of  the  helmet,  was  calm  and  benignant; 
except  there  was  no  suggestion  of  an  evil  re  very  hold- 
ing the  current  of  his  thought,  or  casting  a  shade  of 
uncertainty  over  his  soul,  he  looked  not  unlike  the 
famous  II  Penseroso  familiar  to  art-seekers  in  the  Med- 
ici Chapel  of  Florence.  Then  the  eyes  of  the  rivals 
met.  The  Greek  was  in  no  wise  moved.  How  it 
would  have  been  with  him  could  he  have  seen  through 
the  disguise  of  the  Sheik  may  never  be  said.  On  the 
other  part,  the  Sheik  lifted  his  head,  and  seemed  tak- 
ing on  increase  of  stature.  A  projecting  fold  of  the 


head-kerchief  overhung  his  face,  permitting  nothing 
to  be  seen  but  red-hued  cheeks,  a  thin  beard,  and  eyes 
black  and  glittering.  The  review  he  felt  himself 
undergoing  did  not  daunt  him ;  it  only  sent  his  pride 
mounting,  like  a  leap  of  flame. 

" By  the  Virgin!  "  said  one  of  the  courtiers  to  an- 
other, in  a  louder  tone  than  the  occasion  demanded. 
"  We  may  indeed  congratulate  ourselves  upon  having 
seen  the  king  of  camel  drivers." 

There  was  a  disposition  to  laugh  amongst  the  lighter- 
minded  of  the  guests,  but  the  Princess  checked  it  by 
rising. 

"  Bid  the  Sheik  approach,"  she  said,  to  the  old  do- 
mestic ;  and,  at  a  sign  from  her,  the  waiting- women 
drew  closer  about  her  chair. 

The  figure  of  the  Princess  clad  all  in  white,  a  brace- 
let of  plain  gold  upon  her  left  arm,  fillets  in  her  hair, 
one  red,  the  other  blue,  a  double  strand  of  pearls  about 
her  neck — this  figure,  with  the  small  head,  perfect  in 
turn,  set  matchlessly  upon  the  sloping  shoulders,  the 
humid  eyes  full  of  violet  light,  the  cheeks  flushed 
with  feeling — this  figure  so  bright  in  its  surroundings, 
admitted  no  rivalry  in  attention,  none  in  admiration ; 
the  courtiers,  old  and  young,  turned  from  the  Sheik, 
and  the  Sheik  from  the  Emperor.  In  a  word,  every 
eye  centred  upon  the  Princess,  every  tongue  bade  hush 
lest  what  she  said  might  be  lost. 

Etiquette  required  the  Sheik's  presentation  to  the 
Emperor  first,  but  seeing  her  about  to  comply  with 
the  rule,  he  prostrated  himself  at  her  feet.  As  he 
arose,  she  said : 

"When  I  invited  you  to  come  and  give  me  more  of 
the  cheer  there  is  in  your  art,  O  Sheik,  I  did  not  know 
my  gracious  kinsman,  to  whom  every  Greek  is  proud 
and  happy  to  be  allegiant,  designed  visiting  me  to-day. 


830 

I  pray  you  will  not  suffer  too  much  from  his  presence, 
but  regard  him  a  royal  auditor  who  delights  in  a  tale 
well  told,  and  in  verses  when  the  theme  and  measure 
go  lovingly  together.  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor !  " 

"Hist!  Didst  hear?"  whispered  the  Professor  of 
Philosophy  to  the  Professor  of  Ehetoric.  "Thyself 
couldst  not  have  spoken  better." 

"  Ay,  truly,"  the  other  answered.  "  Save  a  trifle  of 
stiffness,  the  speech  might  have  served  Longinus. " 

With  her  last  word,  the  Princess  stepped  aside, 
leaving  Mahommed  and  Constantine  front  to  front. 

Had  the  Sheik  been  observant  of  the  monarch's 
dues,  he  would  have  promptly  prostrated  himself  ; 
but  the  moment  for  the  salutation  passed,  and  he 
remained  standing,  answering  the  look  he  received 
calmly  as  it  was  given.  The  reader  and  the  writer 
know  the  reason  governing  him ;  the  suite,  however, 
were  not  so  well  informed,  and  they  began  to  mur- 
mur. The  Princess  herself  appeared  embarrassed. 

"Lord  of  Constantinople,"  the  Sheik  said,  seeing 
speech  was  his,  "  were  I  a  Greek,  or  a  Roman,  or  an 
Ottoman,  I  should  make  haste  to  kiss  the  floor  before 
you,  happy  of  the  privilege;  for — be  the  concession 
well  noted  " — he  glanced  deferentially  around  him  as 
he  spoke — "  the  report  which  the  world  has  of  you  is 
of  a  kind  to  make  it  your  lover.  After  a  few  days — • 
Allah  willing — I  shall  stand  before  Amurath  the  Sul- 
tan. Though  in  reverencing  him  I  yield  not  to  any 
one  simply  his  friend,  he  will  waive  prostration  from 
me,  knowing  what  Your  Majesty  may  not.  In  my 
country  we  cleanse  the  ground  with  our  beards  before 
no  one  but  God.  Not  that  we  are  unwilling  to  con- 
form to  the  rules  of  the  courts  in  which  we  find  our- 
selves ;  with  us  it  is  a  law — To  kiss  a  man's  hand 
maketh  him  the  master;  prostrate  thyself  to  him,  and 


881 

without  other  act,  thou  becomest  his  subject.  I  am 
an  Arab!" 

The  Sheik  was  not  in  the  least  defiant;  on  the 
contrary,  his  manner  was  straightforward,  simple,  sin- 
cere, as  became  one  interposing  conscience  against  an 
observance  in  itself  rightful  enough.  Only  in  the  last 
exclamation  was  there  a  perceptible  emphasis,  a  little 
marked  by  a  lift  of  the  head  and  a  kindling  of  the 
eyes. 

"I  see  Your  Majesty  comprehends  me,"  he  said,  con- 
tinuing; "yet  to  further  persuade  your  court,  and 
especially  the  fair  and  high-born  lady,  whose  guest, 
with  all  my  unworthiness,  I  am,  from  believing  me 
moved  in  this  matter  by  disrespect  for  their  sovereign, 
I  say  next,  if  by  prostration  I  made  myself  a  Roman, 
the  act  would  be  binding  on  the  tribe  whose  Sheik  I 
am  by  lawful  election.  And  did  I  that,  O  thou  whose 
bounties  serve  thy  people  in  lieu  of  rain !  though  my 
hand  were  white,  like  the  first  Prophet's,  when,  to  as- 
sure the  Egyptian,  he  drew  it  from  his  bosom,  it  would 
char  blacker  than  dust  of  burned  willow — then,  O 
thou,  lovelier  than  the  queen  the  lost  lapwing  reported 
to  Solomon !  though  my  breath  were  as  the  odor  of 
musk,  it  would  poison,  like  an  exhalation  from  a  leper's 
grave — then,  O  my  lords !  like  Karoon  in  his  wicked- 
ness, I  should  hear  Allah  say  of  me,  O  Earth,  swallow 
him !  For  as  there  are  crimes  and  crimes,  verily  the 
chief  who  betrays  his  brethren  born  to  the  practice  of 
freedom,  shall  wander  between  tents  all  his  days,  cry- 
ing, Oh,  alas !  oh,  alas !  Who  now  will  defend  me 
against  God  ?  " 

When  the  Sheik  paused,  as  if  for  judgment,  he  was 
not  only  acquitted  of  intentional  disrespect;  the  last 
grumbler  was  anxious  to  hear  him  further. 

"  What  astonishing  figures ! "  the  Philosopher  whis- 


332 

pered  to  the  Rhetorician.  "  I  begin  to  think  it  true 
that  the  East  hath  a  style  of  its  own." 

"I  commend  thy  sagacity,  my  brother,"  the  other 
replied.  "His  peroration  was  redolent  of  the  Koran 
— A  wonderful  fellow  nevertheless ! " 

Presently  the  whole  concourse  was  looking  at  the 
Emperor,  with  whom  it  rested  whether  the  Sheik 
should  be  dismissed  or  called  on  for  entertainment. 

"Daughter,"  said  Constantine  to  the  Princess,  "I 
know  not  enough  of  the  tribal  law  of  thy  guest  to  have 
an  opinion  of  the  effect  upon  him  and  his  of  the  obser- 
vance of  our  ancient  ceremony;  wherefore  we  are 
bound  to  accept  his  statement.  Moreover  it  does  not 
become  our  dignity  to  acquire  subjects  and  dominion, 
were  they  ever  so  desirable,  in  a  method  justly  liable 
to  impeachment  for  treachery  and  coercion.  Besides 
which — and  quite  as  important,  situated  as  we  are — 
thy  hospitality  is  to  be  defended." 

Here  the  Sheik,  who  had  been  listening  to  the  Em- 
peror, and  closely  observing  him,  thrice  lightly  clapped 
his  hands. 

"  It  remains  for  us,  therefore,  to  waive  the  saluta- 
tion in  this  instance." 

A  ripple  of  assent  proceeded  from  the  suite. 

"And  now,  daughter,"  Constantine  pursued,  "thy 
guest  being  present  to  give  thee  of  his  lore,  it  may  be 
he  will  be  pleased  to  have  us  of  his  audience  as  well. 
Having  heard  much  of  such  performances,  and  re- 
membering their  popularity  when  we  were  in  our 
childhood,  we  will  esteem  ourselves  fortunate  if  now 
favored  by  one  highly  commended  as  a  master  in  his 
guild." 

The  Sheik's  eyes  sparkled  brighter  as  he  answered, 
"  It  is  written  for  us  in  our  Holiest,  the  very  Word  of 
the  Compassionate, — 'If  ye  are  greeted  with  a  greet- 


338 

ing,  then  greet  ye  with  a  better  greeting,  or  at  least 
return  it.'  Verily  my  Lord  dispenseth  honor  with  so 
light  a  hand  as  not  to  appear  aware  of  the  doing. 
When  my  brethren  under  the  black  tents  are  told  of 
my  having  won  the  willing  ear  of  their  Majesties  of 
Byzantium  and  Adrianople,  they  will  think  of  me  as 
one  who  has  been  permitted  to  walk  in  the  light  of 
two  suns  simultaneous  in  shining." 

So  saying,  he  bowed  very  low. 

"  My  only  unhappiness  now  is  in  not  knowing  the 
direction  in  which  my  Lord's  preferences  run ;  for  as  a 
stream  goes  here  and  there,  but  all  the  time  keeps  one 
general  course,  seeking  the  sea,  so  with  taste ;  though 
it  yield  a  nod  now,  and  then  a  smile,  it  hath  always  a 
deeper  delight  for  the  singer's  finding.  I  have  the  gay 
and  serious — history,  traditions — the  heroics  of  men 
and  nations,  their  heart-throbs  in  verse  and  prose — all 
or  any  for  the  Lord  of  Constantinople  and  his  kins- 
woman, my  hostess, — may  her  life  never  end  until 
the  song  of  the  dove  ceases  to  be  heard  in  the  land !  " 

"  What  say  you,  my  friends  ?  "  asked  Constantine, 
glancing  graciously  at  those  around  him. 

Then  they  looked  from  him  to  the  Princess,  and  in 
thought  of  the  betrothal,  replied,  "Love— something 
of  love!" 

' '  No, "  he  returned,  unflinchingly.  ' '  We  are  youths 
no  longer.  There  is  enlightenment  in  the  traditions 
of  nations.  Our  neighbors,  the  Turks — what  hast  thou 
of  them,  Sheik  ? " 

"  Didst  thou  hear  ? "  said  Notaras  to  one  at  his  elbow. 
' '  He  hath  recanted ;  the  Empress  will  not  be  a  Greek. " 

There  was  no  answer;  for  the  Sheik,  baring  his 
head,  hung  the  kerchief  and  cord  upon  his  arm,  pre- 
liminaries which  gave  bim  perfectly  to  view.  A 
swarthy  face;  hair  black,  profuse,  closely  cut  along 


384 

the  temples;  features  delicate  but  manly — these  the 
bystanders  saw  in  a  general  way,  being  more  attracted 
by  the  repressed  fire  in  the  man's  eyes,  and  his  air  high 
and  severely  noble. 

When  the  Princess  caught  sight  of  the  countenance, 
she  fell  into  a  confusion.  She  had  seen  it,  but  where 
and  when  ?  The  instant  he  was  beginning  he  gazed 
at  her,  and  in  the  exchange  of  glances  she  was  re- 
minded of  the  Governor  bidding  her  adieu  on  the  shore 
of  the  Sweet  Waters.  But  he  was  youthful,  while  this 
one — could  it  be  he  was  old  ?  The  feeling  was  a  repe- 
tition of  that  she  had  in  the  Castle  when  the  story- 
teller appeared  the  first  tune. 

"  I  will  tell  how  the  Turks  became  a  Nation." 
Then,  in  Greek  but  a  little  broken,  the  Sheik  began 
a  recital. 

AL^EDDIN  AND  ERTOGHRUL 
I 

A  tale  of  Ertoghrul  !— 

How  when  the  Chief 

Lay  one  day  nooning  with  his  stolen  herds, 
A  sound  of  drumming  smote  him  from  the  East, 
And  while  he  stood  to  see  what  came  of  it, 
The  West  with  like  notes  fainter,  echo-like, 
Made  answer ;  then  two  armies  rode  in  view, 
Horses  and  men  in  steel,  the  sheen  of  war 
About  them  and  above,  and  wheeling  quick 
From  column  into  line,  drew  all  their  blades, 
Shook  all  their  flags,  and  charged  and  lost  themselve* 
In  depths  of  dusty  clouds,  which  yet  they  tore 
With  blinding  gleams  of  light,  and  yells  of  rage, 
And  cheers  so  high  and  hoarse  they  well  might  seem 
The  rolling  thunder  of  a  mountain  storm. 
Long  time  the  hosts  contended  ;  but  at  last 
The  lesser  one  began  to  yield  the  ground, 
Oppressed  in  front,  and  on  its  flanks  o'erwhelmed : 
And  hasted  then  the  end,  a  piteous  sight, 


336 

Most  piteous  to  the  very  brave  who  know 
From  lessons  of  their  lives,  how  seldom  'tis 
Despair  can  save  where  valor  fails  to  win. 
Then  Ertoghrul  aroused  him,  touched  to  heart. 

"  My  children,  mount,  and  out  with  cimeter  ! 
I  know  not  who  these  are,  nor  whence  they  come; 
Nor  need  we  care.    'Twas  Allah  led  them  here, 
And  we  will  honor  Him — and  this  our  law  ; 
What  though  the  weak  may  not  be  always  right, 
We'll  make  it  always  right  to  help  the  weak. 
Deep  take  the  stirrups  now,  and  ride  with  me, 
AUah-il- Allah!" 

Thus  spake  Ertoghrul ; 
And  at  the  words,  with  flying  reins,  and  all 
His  eager  tribe,  four  hundred  sworded  men, 
Headlong  he  rode  against  the  winning  host. 

II 

Beneath  the  captured  flags,  the  spoils  in  heaps 
Around  him  laid,  the  rescued  warrior  stood, 
A  man  of  kingly  mien,  while  to  him  strode 
His  unexpected  friend. 

"  Now  who  art  thou  f  " 
The  first  was  first  to  ask. 

"  Sheik  Ertoghrul 
Am  I." 

"  The  herds  I  see — who  calls  them  his  f  " 

Laughed  Ertoghrul,  and  showed  his  cimeter. 
"  The  sword  obeys  my  hand,  the  hand  my  will, 
And  given  will  and  hand  and  sword,  I  pray 
Thee  tell  me,  why  should  any  man  be  poor?  " 

"  And  whose  the  plain  ?  " 

"  Comes  this  way  one  a  friend 
Of  mine,  and  leaves  his  slippers  at  my  door, 
Why  then,  'tis  his." 

"  And  whose  the  hills  that  look 
Upon  the  plain?" 


"  My  flocks  go  there  at  morn, 
And  thence  they  come  at  night— I  take  my  right 
Of  Allah." 

"No,"  the  stranger  mildly  said, 
"  'Twas  Allah  made  them  mine." 

Frowned  Ertoghrul, 

While  darkened  all  the  air  ;  but  from  his  side 
Full  pleasantly  the  stranger  took  a  sword, 
Its  carven  hilt  one  royal  emerald, 
Its  blade  both  sides  with  legends  overwrought, 
Some  from  the  Koran,  some  from  Solomon, 
All  by  the  cunning  Eastern  maker  burned 
Into  the  azure  steel — his  sword  he  took, 
And  held  it,  belt,  and  scabbard  too,  in  sign 
Of  gift. 

"  The  herds,  the  plain,  the  hills  were  mine ; 
But  take  thou  them,  and  with  them  this  in  proof 
Of  title." 

Lifted  Ertoghrul  his  brows, 
And  opened  wide  his  eyes. 

"  Now  who  art  thou  f " 
He  asked  in  turn. 

"  Oh,  I  am  Alaeddin— 
Sometimes  they  call  me  Alaeddin  the  Great." 

"  I  take  thy  gifts— the  herds,  the  plain,  the  hills," 
Said  Ertoghrul ;  "  and  so  I  take  the  sword ; 
But  none  the  less,  if  comes  a  need,  'tis  thine. 
Let  others  call  thee  Alaeddin  the  Great ; 
To  me  and  mine  thou'rt  Alaeddin  the  Good 
And  Great." 

With  that,  he  kissed  the  good  King's  hand) 
And  making  merry,  to  the  Sheik's  dowar 
They  rode.     And  thus  from  nothing  came  the  small ; 
And  now  the  lonely  vale  which  erst  ye  knew, 
And  scorned,  because  it  nursed  the  mountain's  feet, 
Doth  cradle  mornings  on  the  mountain's  top. 

Mishallah! 


337 

The  quiet  which  held  the  company  through  the 
recitation  endured  a  space  afterwards,  and — if  the 
expression  be  allowed — was  in  itself  a  commentary 
upon  the  performance. 

"Where  is  our  worthy  Professor  of  Rhetoric?" 
asked  Constantine. 

"  Here,  Your  Majesty,"  answered  the  man  of  learn- 
ing, rising. 

"Canst  thou  not  give  us  a  lecture  upon  the  story 
with  which  thy  Arabian  brother  hath  favored  us  ? " 

' '  Nay,  sire,  criticism,  to  deal  justly,  waiteth  until 
the  blood  is  cool.  If  the  Sheik  will  honor  me  with  a 
copy  of  his  lines,  I  will  scan  and  measure  them  by 
the  rules  descended  to  us  from  Homer,  and  his  Attic 
successors." 

The  eyes  of  the  Emperor  fell  next  upon  the  moody, 
discontented  face  of  Duke  Notaras. 

"My  lord  Admiral,  what  sayest  thou  of  the 
tale?" 

"Of  the  tale,  nothing  ;  of  the  story-teller — I  think 
him  an  insolent,  and  had  I  my  way,  Your  Majesty, 
he  should  have  a  plunge  in  the  Bosphorus." 

Presuming  the  Sheik  unfamiliar  with  Latin,  the 
Duke  couched  his  reply  in  that  tongue  ;  yet  the 
former  raised  his  head,  and  looked  at  the  speaker, 
his  eyes  glittering  with  intelligence — and  the  day 
came,  and  soon,  when  the  utterance  was  relentlessly 
punished. 

"I  do  not  agree  with  you,  my  Lord,"  Constantine 
said,  in  a  melancholy  tone.  "Our  fathers,  whether 
we  look  for  them  on  the  Roman  or  the  Greek  side, 
might  have  played  the  part  of  Ertoghrul.  His  was 
the  spirit  of  conquest.  Would  we  had  enough  of  it 
left  to  get  back  our  own!— Sheik,"  he  added,  "  what 
else  hast  thou  in  the  same  strain  ?  I  have  yet  a 
22 


338 

little  time  to  spare — though  it  shall  be  as  our  hostess 
saith." 

"  Nay,"  she  answered,  with  deference,  "  there  is  but 
one  will  here." 

And  taking  assent  from  her,  the  Sheik  began  anew. 

EL   JANN   AND   HIS   PARABLE 

Bismillah! 

Ertoghrul  pursued  a  wolf, 
And  slew  it  on  the  range's  tallest  peak, 
Above  the  plain  so  high  there  was  nor  grass 
Nor  even  mosses  more.    And  there  he  sat 
Him  down  awhile  to  rest ;  when  from  the  sky, 
Or  the  blue  ambiency  cold  and  pure, 
Or  maybe  from  the  caverns  of  the  earth 
Where  Solomon  the  King  is  wont  to  keep 
The  monster  Genii  hearkening  his  call, 
El  Jann,  vast  as  a  cloud,  and  thrice  as  black, 
Appeared  and  spoke — 

"  Art  thou  Sheik  Ertoghrul  ? »» 
And  he  undaunted  answered :  "Even  so." 
"  Well,  I  would  like  to  come  and  sit  with  thee." 
"  Thou  seest  there  is  not  room  for  both  of  us." 

"  Then  rise,  I  say,  and  get  thee  part  way  down 
The  peak." 

"  'Twere  easier,"  laughed  Ertoghrul, 
"  Madest  thou  thyself  like  me  as  thin  and  small ; 
And  I  am  tired." 

A  rushing  sound  ran  round  and  up 
And  down  the  height,  most  like  the  whir  of  wings 
Through  tangled  trees  of  forests  old  and  dim. 
A  moment  thus — the  time  a  crisped  leaf, 
Held  armlength  overhead,  will  take  to  fall- 
Anil  then  a  man  was  sitting  face  to  face 
With  Ertoghrul. 


"  This  is  the  realm  of  snow," 
He  said,  and  smiled — "  a  place  from  men  secure, 
Where  only  eagles  fearless  come  to  nest, 
And  summer  with  their  young." 

The  Sheik  replied, 

"  It  was  a  wolf — a  gaunt  gray  wolf,  which  long 
Had  fattened  on  my  flocks — that  lured  me  here. 
I  killed  it." 

"  On  thy  spear  I  see  no  blood  ; 
And  where,  O  Sheik,  the  carcass  of  the  slain  ? 
I  see  it  not." 

Around  looked  Ertoghrul— 
There  was  no  wolf  ;  and  at  his  spear — 
Upon  its  blade  no  blood.    Then  rose  his  wrath, 
A  mighty  pulse. 

"  The  spear  hath  failed  its  trust— 
I'll  try  the  cimeter." 

A  gleam  of  light — 

A  flitting,  wind-borne  spark  in  murk  of  night- 
Then  fell  the  sword,  the  gift  of  Aladdin  ; 
Edge-first  it  smote  the  man  upon  his  crown — 
Between  his  eyes  it  shore,  nor  staying  there, 
It  cut  his  smile  in  two — and  not  yet  spent, 
But  rather  gaining  force,  through  chin  and  chin*, 
And  to  the  very  stone  on  which  he  sat 
It  clove,  and  finished  with  a  bell-like  clang 
Of  silvern  steel  'gainst  steel. 

"  Aha  !  Aha  I  "— 

But  brief  the  shout ;  for  lo  !  there  was  no  stain 
Upon  the  blade  withdrawn,  nor  moved  the  man, 
Nor  changed  he  look  or  smile. 

"  I  was  the  wolf 

That  ran  before  thee  up  the  mountain  side  ; 
'Twas  I  received  thy  spear  as  now  thy  sword ; 
And  know  thou  further,  Sheik,  nor  wolf  nor  man 
Am  I,  nor  mortal  thing  of  any  kind  ; 
Only  a  thought  of  Allah's.    Canst  thou  kill 


340 

A  thought  divine  ?    Not  Solomon  himself 
Could  that,  except  with  thought  yet  more  divine. 
Yield  thee  thy  rage  ;  and  when  thou  think'st  of  me 
Hereafter,  be  it  as  of  one,  a  friend, 
Who  brought  a  parable,  and  made  display 
Before  thee,  saying— 

<  Lo !  what  Allah  wills.' " 

Therewith  he  dropped  a  seed  scarce  visible 
Into  a  little  heap  of  sand  and  loam 
Between  them  drawn. 

"  Lo  !  Allah  wills." 

And  straight 

The  dust  began  to  stir  as  holding  life. 
Again  El  Jann — 

"  Behold  what  Allah  wills  I " 

A  tiny  shoot  appeared  ;  a  waxen  point 
Close  shawled  in  many  folds  of  wax  as  white, 
It  might  have  been  a  vine  to  humbly  creep — 
A  lily  soon  to  sunward  flare  its  stars — 
A  shrub  to  briefly  coquette  with  the  winds. 
Again  the  cabalism — 

"  Lo  !  Allah's  will." 

The  apparition  budded,  leafed,  and  branched, 

And  with  a  flame  of  living  green  lit  all 

The  barrenness  about.    And  still  it  grew — 

Until  it  touched  the  pillars  of  the  earth, 

And  lapped  its  boundaries,  the  far  and  near, 

And  under  it,  as  brethren  in  a  tent, 

The  nations  made  their  home,  and  dwelt  in  peace 

Forever. 

"Lo!"— 

And  Ertoghrul  awoke. 

Mishallah  f 

This  recitation  commanded  closer  attention  than 
the  first  one.     Each  listener  had  a  feeling  that  the 


341 

parable  at  the  end,  like  all  true  parables,  was  of  con- 
tinuous application,  while  its  moral  was  in  some  way 
aimed  at  him. 

The  looks  the  Sheik  received  were  by  no  means  lov- 
ing. The  spell  was  becoming  unpleasant.  Then  the 
Emperor  arose,  as  did  the  Princess,  to  whom,  as  host- 
ess, the  privilege  of  sitting  had  been  alone  conceded. 

"  Our  playtime  is  up — indeed,  I  fear,  it  has  been  ex- 
ceeded," he  said,  glancing  at  the  Dean,  who  was  act- 
ing master  of  ceremonies. 

The  Dean  responded  with  a  bow  low  as  his  surround- 
ings admitted;  whereupon  the  Emperor  went  to  the 
Princess,  and  said,  "  We  will  take  leave  now,  daugh- 
ter, and  for  myself  and  my  lords  of  the  court,  I  ac- 
knowledge a  most  agreeable  visit,  and  thank  you  for 
it." 

She  respectfully  saluted  the  hand  he  extended  to  her. 

"  Our  gate  and  doors  at  Blacherne  are  always  open 
to  you." 

The  adieu  was  specially  observed  by  the  courtiers, 
and  they  subsequently  pronounced  it  decorous  for  a 
sovereign,  cordial  as  became  a  relative,  but  most  un- 
loverlike.  Indeed,  it  was  a  strong  point  in  the  decis- 
ion subsequently  of  general  acceptance,  by  which  His 
Majesty  was  relieved  of  the  proposal  of  marriage  to 
the  Princess. 

The  latter  took  his  offered  arm,  and  accompanied 
him  to  the  steps  of  the  portico,  where,  when  he  had 
descended,  the  lords  one  by  one  left  a  kiss  on  her  hand. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  as  Constantine  was 
passing  the  Sheik,  he  paused  to  say  to  him  in  his  ha- 
bitually kind  and  princely  manner  :  "The  tree  Sheik 
Ertoghrul  saw  in  his  dream  has  spread,  and  is  yet 
spreading,  but  its  shadow  has  not  compassed  all  the 
nations ;  and  while  God  keeps  me,  it  will  not.  Had 


Ml 

not  I  myself  invited  the  parable,  it  might  have  been 
offensive.  For  the  instruction  and  entertainment 
given  me,  accept  thou  this — and  go  in  peace." 

The  Sheik  took  the  ring  offered  him,  and  the  gaze 
with  which  he  followed  the  imperial  giver  was  sug- 
gestive of  respect  and  pity. 


CHAPTER  XX 

MAHOMMED   DEEAMS 

IT  was  a  trifle  after  noon.  The  trireme  and  the  as- 
semblage of  admiring  townspeople  had  disappeared, 
leaving  the  bay  and  its  shores  to  their  wonted  quiet. 
The  palace,  however,  nestling  in  the  garden  under  the 
promontory,  must  be  permitted  to  hold  our  interest 
longer. 

Aboo-Obeidah  had  eaten  and  drunk,  for  being  on  a 
journey,  he  was  within  the  license  of  the  law  as  re- 
spects wine ;  and  now  he  sat  with  the  Princess  alone 
at  the  end  of  the  portico  lately  occupied  by  the  Em- 
peror and  his  suite.  A  number  of  her  attendants 
amused  themselves  out  of  hearing  of  the  two,  though 
still  within  call.  She  occupied  the  sedilium ;  he  a  seat 
by  the  table  near  her.  Save  a  fine  white  veil  on  an 
arm  and  a  fan  which  she  seldom  used,  her  appearance 
was  as  in  the  morning. 

It  is  to  be  admitted  now  that  the  Princess  was  find- 
ing a  pleasure  in  the  society  of  the  Sheik.  If  aware 
of  the  fact,  which  was  doubtful,  it  is  still  more  doubt- 
ful if  she  could  have  explained  it.  We  are  inclined 
to  think  the  mystery  attaching  to  the  man  had  as 
much  to  do  with  the  circumstance  as  the  man  himself. 
He  was  polite,  engaging,  and  handsome ;  the  objection 
to  his  complexion,  if  such  there  were,  was  at  least  off- 
set by  a  very  positive  faculty  of  entertaining ;  besides 
which,  the  unspeakable  something  in  manner,  always 


344 

baffling  disguises,  always  whispering  of  other  condi- 
tions, always  exciting  suggestions  and  expectations, 
was  present  here. 

If  she  thought  him  the  Bedouin  he  assumed  to  be, 
directly  a  word  changed  the  opinion ;  did  she  see  the 
Governor  of  the  old  Castle  in  his  face,  an  allusion  or 
a  bit  of  information  dropped  by  him  unaware  spoke 
of  association  far  beyond  such  a  subordinate;  most 
perplexing,  however,  where  got  the  man  his  intelli- 
gence ?  Did  learning  like  his,  avouching  cloisters, 
academies,  and  teachers  of  classical  taste,  comport 
with  camel-driving  and  tent-life  in  deserts  harried  by 
winds  and  sand  ? 

The  mystery,  together  with  the  effort  to  disentangle 
it,  resolved  the  Princess  into  an  attentive  auditor. 
The  advantages  in  the  conversation  were  conse- 
quently with  the  Sheik;  and  he  availed  himself  of 
them  to  lead  as  he  chose. 

"  You  have  heard,  O  Princess,  of  the  sacred  fig-tree 
of  the  Hindus  ? " 

"No." 

"In  one  of  their  poems — the  Bhagavad  Gita,  I 
think — it  is  described  as  having  its  roots  above  and 
its  branches  downward;  thus  drawing  life  from  the 
sky  and  offering  its  fruit  most  conveniently,  it  is  to 
me  the  symbol  of  a  good  and  just  king.  It  rose  to 
my  mind  when  thy  kinsman — may  Allah  be  thrice 
merciful  to  him ! — passed  me  with  his  speech  of  for- 
giveness, and  this  gift" — he  raised  his  hand,  and 
looked  at  the  ring  on  one  of  the  fingers — "  in  place  of 
which  I  was  more  deserving  burial  in  the  Bosphorus, 
as  the  black-browed  Admiral  said." 

A  frown  dark  as  the  Admiral's  roughened  his 
smooth  brow. 

"  Why  so  ? "  she  inquired. 


345 

"The  tales  I  told  were  of  a  kind  to  be  spared  a 
Greek,  even  one  who  may  not  cover  his  instep  with 
the  embroidered  buskin  of  an  Emperor." 

"Nay,  Sheik,  they  did  not  ruffle  him.  On  the 
tongue  of  a  Turk,  I  admit,  the  traditions  had  been 
boastful,  but  you  are  not  a  Turk." 

The  remark  might  have  been  interrogative ;  where- 
fore with  admirable  address,  he  replied:  "An  Otto- 
man would  see  in  me  an  Arab  wholly  unrelated  to 
him,  except  as  I  am  a  Moslem.  Let  it  pass,  O  Prin- 
cess— he  forgave  me.  The  really  great  are  always 
generous.  When  I  took  the  ring,  I  thought,  Now 
would  the  young  Mahommed  have  so  lightly  par- 
doned the  provocation  ? " 

"  Mahommed ! "  she  said. 

"  Not  the  Prophet,"  he  answered;  "  but  the  son  of 
Amurath." 

"Ah,  you  know  him  ?  " 

"I  have  sat  with  him,  O  Princess,  and  at  table 
often  helped  him  to  meat  and  bread.  I  have  been 
his  cupbearer  and  taster,  and  as  frequently  shared  his 
outdoor  sports;  now  hunting  with  hawk,  and  now 
with  hound.  Oh,  it  were  worth  a  year  of  common 
days  to  gallop  at  his  right  hand,  and  exult  with  him 
when  the  falcon,  from  its  poise  right  under  the  sun, 
drops  itself  like  an  arrow  upon  its  enemy!  I  have 
discoursed  with  him  also  on  themes  holy  and  profane, 
and  given  and  taken  views,  and  telling  him  tales  in 
prose  and  verse,  have  seen  the  day  go  out,  then  come 
again.  In  knightly  practice  I  have  tilted  with  him, 
and  more  than  once,  by  his  side  in  battle,  loosened 
rein  at  the  same  cry  and  charged.  His  Sultana 
mother  knows  him  well;  but,  by  the  lions  and  the 
eagles  who  served  Solomon,  I  know  him,  beginning 
where  her  knowledge  left  off — that  is,  where  the 
93 


846 

horizon  of  manhood  stretched  itself  to  make  room  for 
his  enlarging  soul." 

The  awakening  curiosity  of  his  listener  was  not  lost 
upon  the  Sheik. 

"You  are  surprised  to  hear  a  kindly  speech  of  the 
son  of  Amurath,"  he  said. 

She  flushed  slightly. 

"  I  am  not  a  person,  Sheik,  whose  opinions  are  dan- 
gerous to  the  peace  of  States,  and  of  whom  diplomacy 
is  required ;  yet  it  would  grieve  me  to  give  offence  to 
you  or  your  friend,  the  Prince  Mahommed.  If  now 
I  concede  a  wish  to  have  some  further  knowledge  of 
one  who  is  shortly  to  inherit  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Eastern  Kingdoms,  the  circumstance  ought  not  to  sub- 
ject me  to  harsh  judgment." 

"Princess,"  the  Sheik  said,  " nothing  so  becomes  a 
woman  as  care  where  words  may  be  the  occasion  of 
mischief.  As  a  flower  in  a  garden,  such  a  woman 
would  rank  as  the  sovereign  rose ;  as  a  bird,  she  would 
be  the  bulbul,  the  sweetest  of  singers,  and  in  beauty, 
a  heron  with  throat  of  snow,  and  wings  of  pink  and 
scarlet ;  as  a  star,  she  would  be  the  first  of  the  even- 
ing, and  the  last  to  pale  in  the  morning — nay,  she 
would  be  a  perpetual  morning.  Of  all  fates  what 
more  nearly  justifies  reproach  of  Allah  than  to  have 
one's  name  and  glory  at  the  mercy  of  a  rival  or  an 
enemy  ?  I  am  indeed  Mahommed's  friend — I  know 
him — I  will  defend  him,  where  sacred  truth  permits 
defence.  And  then" — his  glance  fell,  and  he  hesi- 
tated. 

"  And  what  then  ? "  she  asked. 

He  gave  her  a  grateful  look,  and  answered:  "  I  am 
going  to  Adrianople.  The  Prince  will  be  there,  and 
can  I  tell  him  of  this  audience,  and  that  the  Princess 
Irene  regrets  the  evil  reported  of  him  in  Constanti- 


347 

nople,  and  is  not  his  enemy,  straightway  he  will  num- 
ber himself  of  those  the  most  happy  and  divinely  re- 
membered, whose  books  are  to  be  given  them  in  then* 
right  hands." 

The  Princess  looked  at  the  singer,  her  countenance 
clear,  serene,  fair  as  a  child's,  and  said : 

"  I  am  the  enemy  of  no  one  living.  Report  me  so 
to  him.  The  Master  I  follow  left  a  law  by  which  all 
men  and  women  are  neighbors  whom  I  am  to  love  and 
pray  for  as  I  love  and  pray  for  myself.  Deliver  him 
the  very  words,  O  Sheik,  and  he  will  not  misunder- 
stand me." 

A  moment  after  she  asked : 

' ' '  But  tell  me  more  of  him.     He  is  making  the  world 
very  anxious." 

"Princess,"  the  Sheik  began,  "Ebn  Hanife  was  a 
father  amongst  Dervishes,  and  he  had  a  saying,  '  Ye 
shall  know  a  plant  by  its  flower,  a  vine  by  its  fruit, 
and  a  man  by  his  acts ;  what  he  does  being  to  the  man 
as  the  flower  to  the  plant,  and  the  fruit  to  the  vine ;  if 
he  have  done  nothing,  prove  him  by  his  tastes  and 
preferences,  for  what  he  likes  best  that  he  will  do 
when  left  to  himself.'  By  these  tests  let  us  presume 
to  try  the  Prince  Mahommed.  .  .  .  There  is 
nothing  which  enthralls  us  like  the  exercise  of  power 
— nothing  we  so  nearly  carry  with  us  into  the  tomb 
to  be  a  motive  there ;  for  who  shall  say  it  has  not  a 
part  in  the  promise  of  resurrection  ?  If  so,  O  Prin- 
cess, what  praise  is  too  great  for  him  who,  a  young 
man  placed  upon  a  throne  by  his  father,  comes  down 
from  it  at  his  father's  call  ? " 

"  Did  Mahommed  that  ? " 

"Not  once,  O  Princess,  but  twice." 

"In  so  much  at  least  his  balance  should  be  fair." 

"  To  whom  is  the  pleasant  life  in  a  lofty  garden,  its 


348 

clusters  always  near  at  hand — to  whom,  if  not  to  the 
just  judges  of  their  fellow-men  ? " 

The  Sheik  saluted  her  twice  by  carrying  his  right 
hand  to  his  beard,  then  to  his  forehead. 

"Attend  again,  O  Princess,"  he  continued,  more 
warmly  than  in  the  outset.  ' '  Mahommed  is  devoted 
to  learning.  At  night  in  the  field  when  the  watches 
are  set,  the  story-tellers,  poets,  philosophers,  lawyers, 
preachers,  experts  in  foreign  tongues,  and  especially 
the  inventors  of  devices,  a  class  by  themselves,  sup- 
posed generally  to  live  on  dreams  as  others  on  bread — 
all  these,  finding  welcome  in  his  tent,  congregate  there. 
His  palace  in  the  city  is  a  college,  with  recitations  and 
lectures  and  instructive  conversations.  The  objection 
his  father  recognized  the  times  he  requested  him  to 
vacate  the  throne  was  that  he  was  a  student.  His 
ancestors  having  been  verse  makers,  poetry  is  his 
delight ;  and  if  he  does  not  rival  them  in  the  gentle 
art,  he  surpasses  them  in  the  number  of  his  acquire- 
ments. The  Arab,  the  Hebrew,  the  Greek,  the  Latin 
address  him  and  have  answers  each  in  his  mother's 
tongue.  Knew  you  ever  a  scholar,  O  Princess,  whose 
soul  had  utterly  escaped  the  softening  influence  of 
thought  and  study  ?  It  is  not  learning  which  tames 
the  barbarian  so  much  as  the  diversion  of  mind  from 
barbaric  modes  required  of  him  while  in  the  pursuit 
of  learning." 

She  interrupted  him,  saying  pleasantly:  "I  see,  O 
Sheik,  if  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  an  enemy  is  sad,  how 
fortunate  where  one's  picture  is  intended  if  the  artist 
be  a  friend.  Where  had  the  Prince  his  instructors  ? " 

There  was  a  lurking  smile  in  the  Sheik's  eyes,  as  he 
replied:  "The  sands  in  my  country  drink  the  clouds 
dry,  and  leave  few  fountains  except  of  knowledge. 
The  Arab  professors  in  Cordova,  whom  the  Moorish 


349 

Kaliphs  deemed  themselves  honored  in  honoring,  were 
not  despised  by  the  Bishops  of  Rome.  Amurath,  want- 
ing teachers  for  Mahommed,  invited  the  best  of  them 
to  his  court.  Ah — if  I  had  the  time ! " 

Observing  his  sigh  had  not  failed  its  mark,  he  con- 
tinued: "  I  would  speak  of  some  of  the  books  I  have 
seen  on  the  Prince's  table ;  for  as  a  licensed  friend,  I 
have  been  in  his  study.  Indeed,  but  for  fear  of  too 
greatly  recommending  myself,  I  would  have  told  you 
earlier,  O  Princess,  how  he  favored  me  as  one  of  his 
teachers." 

"Of  poetry  and  story -telling,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"Why  not  ? "  he  asked.  "  Our  history  is  kept  and 
taught  in  such  forms.  Have  we  a  hero  not  himself  a 
poet,  he  keeps  one.  .  .  .  Upon  the  Prince's  table, 
in  the  central  place,  objects  of  his  reverence,  the 
sources  to  which  he  most  frequently  addresses  him- 
self when  in  need  of  words  and  happy  turns  of 
expression,  his  standards  of  comparison  for  things 
beautiful  in  writing  and  speech,  mirrors  of  the  Most 
Merciful,  whispering  galleries  wherein  the  voice  of  the 
Most  Compassionate  is  never  silent,  are  the  Koran, 
with  illustrations  in  gold,  and  the  Bible,  copied  in 
part  from  torahs  of  daily  use  in  the  Synagogues." 

"  The  Bible  in  Hebrew !    Does  he  read  it  ? " 

"  Like  a  Jewish  elder." 

"And  the  Gospels?" 

The  Sheik's  face  became  reproachful. 

' '  Art  thou— even  thou,  0  Princess— of  those  who  be- 
lieve a  Moslem  must  reject  Christ  because  the  Prophet 
of  Islam  succeeded  him  with  later  teachings  ? " 

Dropping  then  into  the  passionless  manner,  he  con- 
tinued: 

"  The  Koran  does  not  deny  Christ  or  his  Gospels. 
Hear  what  it  says  of  itself:  '  And  this  Koran  is  not  a 


850 

forgery  of  one  who  is  no  God,  but  it  hath  been  sent 
down  as  a  confirmation  of  those  books  which  have 
been  before  it,  and  an  explanation  of  the  Scriptures 
from  the  Lord  of  the  Worlds.'*  .  .  .  That  verse, 
O  Princess,  transcribed  by  the  Prince  Mahommed  hkn- 
self,  lies  between  the  Bible  and  the  Koran;  the  two 
being,  as  I  have  said,  always  together  upon  his  table." 

"  What  then  is  his  faith  ? "  she  asked,  undisguisedly 
interested. 

"  Would  he  were  here  to  declare  it  himself!  " 

This  was  said  disconsolately ;  then  the  Sheik  broke 
out: 

"  The  truth  now  of  the  son  of  Amurath !  Listen  !— 
He  believes  in  God.  He  believes  in  the  Scriptures  and 
the  Koran,  holding  them  separate  wings  of  the  divine 
Truth  by  which  the  world  is  to  attain  righteousness. 
He  believes  there  have  been  three  Prophets  specially 
in  the  confidence  of  God :  Moses,  the  first  one ;  Jesus, 
who  was  greater  than  Moses;  Mahomet,  the  very 
greatest — not  for  speaking  better  or  sublimer  things, 
but  because  he  was  last  in  their  order  of  coming. 
Above  all,  O  Princess,  he  believes  worship  due  to  the 
Most  High  alone ;  therefore  he  prays  the  prayer  of  Is- 
lam, God  is  God,  and  Mahomet  is  his  Prophet — mean- 
ing that  the  Prophet  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  God." 

The  Sheik  raised  his  dark  eyes,  and  upon  meeting 
them  the  Princess  looked  out  over  the  bay.  That  she 
was  not  displeased  was  the  most  he  could  read  in  her 
face,  the  youthful  light  of  which  was  a  little  shaded  by 
thinking.  He  waited  for  her  to  speak. 

"  There  were  other  books  upon  the  Prince's  table  ? " 
she  presently  asked. 

"  There  were  others,  O  Princess." 

"  Canst  thou  name  some  of  them  ? " 

*  The  Koran. 


351 

The  Sheik  "bowed  profoundly. 

"  I  see  the  pearls  of  Ebn  Hanife's  saying  were  not 
wasted.  Mahommed  is  now  to  be  tried  by  his  tastes 
and  preferences.  Let  it  be  so.  .  .  .  I  saw  there, 
besides  dictionaries  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  the 
Encyclopaedia  of  Sciences,  a  rare  and  wonderful  vol- 
ume by  a  Granadian  Moor,  Ibn  Abdallah.  I  saw 
there  the  Astronomy  and  Astronomical  Tables  of  Ibn 
Junis,  and  with  them  a  silver  globe  perfected  from  the 
calculations  of  Almamon  the  Kaliph,  which  helps  us 
to  the  geographical  principle  not  yet  acknowledged  hi 
Rome,  that  the  earth  is  round.  I  saw  there  the  Book 
of  the  Balance  of  Wisdom  by  Alhazan,  who  delved 
into  the  laws  of  nature  until  there  is  nothing  phenom- 
enal left.  I  saw  there  the  Philosophy  of  Azazzali  the 
Arab,  for  which  both  Christian  and  Moslem  should  be 
grateful,  since  it  has  given  Philosophy  its  true  place 
by  exalting  it  into  a  handmaiden  of  Religion.  I  saw 
there  books  treating  of  trade  and  commerce,  of  arms 
and  armor,  and  machines  for  the  assault  and  defence 
of  cities,  of  military  engineering,  and  the  conduct  of 
armies  in  grand  campaigns,  of  engineering  not  mili- 
tary, dealing  with  surveying,  and  the  construction  of 
highways,  aqueducts,  and  bridges,  and  the  laying  out 
of  towns.  There,  also,  because  the  soul  of  the  stu- 
dent must  have  rest  and  diversion,  I  saw  volumes  of 
songs  and  music  loved  by  lovers  in  every  land,  and 
drawings  of  mosques,  churches  and  palaces,  master- 
pieces of  Indian  and  Saracenic  genius ;  and  of  gardens 
there  was  the  Zehra,  created  by  Abderrahman  for  the 
best  loved  of  his  Sultanas.  Of  poetry,  O  Princess,  I 
saw  many  books,  the  lord  of  them  a  copy  of  Homer  in 
Arabic,  executed  on  ivory  from  the  translation  ordered 
by  Haroun  Al-Raschid. " 

During  this  recital  the  Princess  scarcely  moved. 


862 

She  was  hearing  a  new  version  of  Mahommed;  and 
the  Sheik,  like  a  master  satisfied  with  his  premises, 
proceeded  to  conclusions. 

"  My  Lord  has  a  habit  of  dreaming,  and  he  does  not 
deny  it — he  believes  in  it.  In  his  student  days,  he 
called  it  his  rest.  He  used  to  say,  when  his  brain 
reeled  in  overtask  dreaming  was  a  pillow  of  down  and 
lavender ;  that  in  moments  of  despair,  dreaming  took 
his  spirit  in  its  hands  softer  than  air,  and,  nurse-like, 
whispered  and  sung  to  it,  and  presently  it  was  strong 
again.  Not  many  mornings  ago  he  awoke  to  find  that 
in  a  deep  sleep  some  ministrant  had  come  to  him,  and 
opened  the  doors  of  his  heart,  and  let  out  its  flock  of 
boyish  fantasies.  He  has  since  known  but  three  vis- 
ions. Would  it  please  you,  O  Princess,  to  hear  of 
them  ?  They  may  be  useful  as  threads  on  which  to 
hang  the  Dervish  father's  pearls  of  saying." 

She  re-settled  herself,  resting  her  cheek  on  her  hand, 
and  her  elbow  on  the  arm  of  the  chair,  and  replied : 

"  I  will  hear  of  them." 

"The  visions  have  all  of  them  reference  to  the 
throne  he  is  soon  to  ascend,  without  which  they  would 
be  the  mere  jingling  of  a  jester's  rattle. 

"  First  Vision.  .  .  .  He  will  be  a  hero.  If  his 
soul  turned  from  war,  he  were  not  his  father's  son. 
But  unlike  his  father,  he  holds  war  the  servant  of  peace, 
and  peace  the  condition  essential  to  his  other  visions. 

"Second  Vision.  .  .  .  He  believes  his  people 
have  the  genius  of  the  Moors,  and  he  will  cultivate  it 
in  rivalry  of  that  marvellous  race." 

"  Of  the  Moors,  O  Sheik  ? "  the  Princess  said,  inter- 
rupting him.  "  Of  the  Moors  ?  I  have  always  heard 
of  them  as  pillagers  of  sacred  cities — infidels  sunk  in 
ignorance,  who  stole  the  name  of  God  to  excuse  in- 
vasions and  the  spilling  of  rifers  of  blood." 


853 

The  Sheik  lifted  his  head  haughtily. 

"  I  am  an  Arab,  and  the  Moors  are  Arabs  translated 
from  the  East  to  the  West." 

"  I  crave  thy  pardon,"  she  said,  gently. 

And  calming  himself,  he  rejoined :  "  If  I  weary  you, 
O  Princess,  there  are  other  subjects  to  which  I  can 
turn.  My  memory  is  like  the  box  of  sandal- wood  a 
lady  keeps  for  her  jewelry.  I  can  open  it  at  will,  and 
always  find  something  to  please — better  probably  be- 
cause I  have  it  from  another." 

"No,"  she  returned,  artlessly,  "a  hero  in  actual 
life  transcends  the  best  of  fancies — and  besides,  Sheik, 
you  spoke  of  a  third  vision  of  your  friend,  the  Prince 
Mahoihmed." 

He  dropped  his  eyes  lest  she  should  see  the  bright- 
ness with  which  they  filled. 

' '  War,  my  Lord  says,  is  a  necessity  which,  as  Sul- 
tan, he  cannot  avoid.  Were  he  disposed  to  content 
himself  with  the  empire  descending  from  his  great 
father,  envious  neighbors  would  challenge  him  to  the 
field.  He  must  prove  his  capacity  in  defence.  That 
done,  he  vows  to  tread  the  path  made  white  and  smooth 
by  Abderrahman,  the  noblest  and  best  of  the  Western 
Kaliphs.  He  will  set  out  by  founding  a  capital  some- 
where on  the  Bosphorus.  Such,  O  Princess,  is  my 
Lord  Mahommed's  Third  Vision." 

"Nay,  Sheik — on  the  Marmora — at  Broussa,  per- 
haps." 

"  I  am  giving  the  Vision  as  he  gave  it  to  me,  Prin- 
cess. For  where  else,  he  asks,  has  the  spreading  earth 
diviner  features  than  on  the  Bosphorus  ?  Where 
bends  a  softer  sky  above  a  friendlier  channel  by  Nat- 
ure moulded  for  nobler  uses  ?  Where  are  there  seas 
so  bridled  and  reduced  ?  Does  not  the  rose  bloom  here 
all  the  year  ?  Yonder  the  East,  here  the  West — must 
23 


854 

they  be  strangers  and  enemies  forever  ?  His  capital, 
he  declares,  shall  be  for  their  entertainment  as  elder 
and  younger  brother.  Within  its  walls,  which  he  will 
build  strong  as  a  mountain's  base,  with  gates  of  brass 
invulnerable,  and  towers  to  descry  the  clouds  below 
the  horizon,  he  will  collect  unselfishly  whatever  is 
good  and  beautiful,  remembering  he  serves  Allah  best 
who  serves  his  fellow-men." 

"  All  his  fellow-men,  Sheik  ? " 

"All  of  them." 

Then  she  glanced  over  the  bay,  and  said  very  softly : 

"It  is  well;  for  'if  ye  salute  your  brethren  only, 
what  do  ye  more  than  others  ? '  " 

The  Sheik  smiled,  saying: 

"And  thus  the  latest  Prophet,  O  Princess,  'Turn 
away  evil  by  that  which  is  better ;  and  lo,  he  between 
whom  and  thyself  was  enmity,  shall  become  as  though 
he  were  a  warm  friend.' " * 

She  answered,  "A  goodly  echo." 

"  Shall  I  proceed  ? "  he  then  asked. 

"Yes." 

"  I  was  speaking  of  the  Third  Vision.  ...  To 
make  his  capital  the  centre  of  the  earth,  he  will  have 
a  harbor  where  ships  from  every  country,  and  all  at 
once,  can  come  and  lie,  oars  slung  and  sails  furled; 
and  near  by  for  trade,  a  bazaar  with  streets  of  marble, 
and  roofed  with  glass,  and  broad  and  long  enough  for 
a  city  unto  itself ;  and  in  the  midst  a  khan  for  lodging 
the  merchants  and  travellers  who  have  not  other  houses. 
And  as  did  Abderrahman,  he  will  build  a  University  of 
vast  enclosure ;  here  temples,  there  groves ;  nor  may  a 
study  be  named  without  its  teacher,  and  he  the  most 
famous ;  so  the  votaries  of  Music  and  Poetry,  Philoso- 
phy, Science,  and  the  Arts,  and  the  hundred-handed 

*  Koran. 


355 

Mechanics  shall  dwell  together  like  soldiers  in  a  holy 
league.  And  comes  that  way  one  religious,  of  him 
but  a  question,  Believest  thou  in  God  ?  and  if  he 
answer  yes,  then  for  him  a  ready  welcome.  For  of 
what  moment  is  it,  my  Lord  asks,  whether  God  bear 
this  name  or  that  ?  Or  be  worshipped  with  or  without 
form  ?  Or  on  foot  or  knee  ?  Or  whether  the  devout 
be  called  together  by  voice  or  bell  ?  Is  not  Faith 
everything  ? " 

The  picture  wrought  upon  the  Princess.  Her  counte- 
nance was  radiant,  and  she  said  half  to  herself,  but  so 
the  Sheik  heard  her : 

"  It  is  a  noble  Vision." 

Then  the  Sheik  lowered  his  voice : 

"If,  with  such  schemes,  excluding  races  and  re* 
ligions — hear  me  again,  O  Princess! — if  with  such 
schemes  or  visions,  as  thou  wilt,  the  Lord  Mahommed 
allows  himself  one  selfish  dream,  wouldst  thou  con- 
demn him  ? " 

"  What  is  the  selfish  dream  ? "  she  asked. 

"He  has  an  open  saying,  Princess,  '  Light  is  the  life 
of  the  world,  while  Love  is  the  light  of  life.'  Didst 
thou  ever  hear  how  Othman  wooed  and  won  his 
Malkatoon  ? " 

"No." 

"It  is  a  Turkish  tale  of  love.  Mahommed  had  it 
from  his  mother  when  he  was  a  lad,  and  he  has  been 
haunted  ever  since  with  a  belief  which,  to  his  dream- 
ing, is  like  the  high  window  in  the  eastern  front  of 
a  palace,  outwardly  the  expression-giver,  within  the 
principal  source  of  light.  The  idea  is  strongest  what 
times  the  moon  is  in  the  full ;  and  then  he  mounts  a 
horse,  and  hies  him,  as  did  Othman,  to  some  solitary 
place  where,  with  imagination  for  cup-bearer,  he 
drinks  himself  into  happy  drunkenness." 


856 

The  Sheik,  bending  forward,  caught  her  eyes  with 
his,  and  held  them  so  not  a  glance  escaped  him. 

"  He  thinks — and  not  all  the  Genii,  the  winged  and 
the  unwinged,  of  the  wisest  of  Kings  could  win  him 
from  the  thought — that  he  will  sometime  meet  a  wo- 
man who  will  have  the  mind,  the  soul  of  souls,  and 
the  beauty  of  the  most  beautiful.  When  she  will  cross 
his  vision  is  one  of  the  undelivered  scriptories  which 
Time  is  bringing  him ;  yet  he  is  looking  for  her,  and 
the  more  constantly  because  the  first  sight  of  her  will 
be  his  first  lesson  in  the  mystery  called  love.  He  will 
know  her,  for  at  seeing  her  a  lamp  will  light  itself  in 
his  heart,  and  by  it,  not  the  glare  of  the  sun,  his  spirit 
will  make  sure  of  her  spirit.  Therefore  in  his  abso- 
luteness of  faith,  O  Princess,  there  is  a  place  already 
provided  for  her  in  his  promised  capital,  and  even  now 
he  calls  it  his  House  of  Love.  Ah,  what  hours  he 
has  spent  planning  that  abode !  He  will  seat  it  in  the 
Garden  of  Perfection,  for  the  glorifying  which,  trees, 
birds,  flowers,  summer-houses,  water,  hill-tops  and 
shaded  vales  shall  be  conquered.  Has  he  not  studied 
the  Zehra  of  Abderrahman  ?  And  divided  it  as  it  was 
into  halls,  courts  and  chambers,  and  formed  and  pro- 
portioned each,  and  set  and  reset  its  thousand  and 
more  columns,  and  restored  the  pearls  and  gold  on  its 
walls,  and  over  the  wide  Alhambran  arches  hung 
silken  doors  sheened  like  Paradisean  birds  ?  And  all 
that  when  he  shall  have  found  her,  his  Queen,  his 
Malkatoon,  his  Spirit  of  Song,  his  Breath  of  Flowers, 
his  Lily  of  Summer,  his  Pearl  of  Oman,  his  Moon  of 
Radjeb,  monotony  shall  never  come  where  she  dwells 
nor  shall  she  sigh  except  for  him  absent.  Such,  O 
Princess  Irene,  is  the  one  dream  the  Prince  has  builded 
with  the  world  shut  out.  Does  it  seem  to  you  a  vanity 
of  wickedness  ? " 


357 

"  No,"  she  returned,  and  covered  her  face,  for  the 
Sheik's  look  was  eager  and  burning  bright. 

He  knelt  then,  and  kissed  the  marble  at  her  feet. 

"I  am  Prince  Mahommed's  ambassador,  O  Prin- 
cess," he  said,  rising  to  his  knees.  "Forgive  me,  if  I 
have  dared  delay  the  announcement." 

' '  His  ambassador !    To  what  end  ? " 

"I  am  afraid  and  trembling." 

He  kissed  the  floor  again. 

"  Assure  me  of  pardon — if  only  to  win  me  back 
my  courage.  It  is  miserable  to  be  shaken  with 
fear." 

"Thou  hast  done  nothing,  Sheik,  unless  drawing 
thy  master's  portrait  too  partially  be  an  offence. 
Speak  out." 

"It  is  not  three  days,  Princess,  since  you  were 
Mahommed's  guest." 

"  I  his  guest — Mahommed's  1 " 

She  arose  from  her  chair. 

"  He  received  you  at  the  White  Castle." 

' '  And  the  Governor  ? " 

"He  was  the  Governor." 

She  sunk  back  overcome  with  astonishment.  The 
Sheik  recalled  her  directly. 

"Prince  Mahommed,"  he  said,  "  arrived  at  the  Cas- 
tle when  the  boats  were  discovered,  and  hastened  to 
the  landing  to  render  assistance  if  the  peril  required 
it.  ...  And  now,  O  Princess,  my  tongue  falters. 
How  can  I  without  offending  tell  of  the  excitement 
into  which  seeing  you  plunged  him  ?  Suffer  me  to  be 
direct.  His  first  impression  was  supported  by  the  co- 
incidences— your  coming  and  his,  so  nearly  at  the 
same  instant — the  place  of  the  meeting  so  out  of  the 
way  and  strange — the  storm  seemingly  an  urgency  of 
Heaven.  Beholding  and  hearing  you,  'This  is  she! 


858 

This  is  she !  My  Queen,  my  Malkatoon ! '  he  cried  in 
his  heart.  And  yesterday  " — 

"  Nay,  Sheik,  allow  the  explanation  to  wait.  Bear- 
est  thou  a  message  from  him  to  me  ?  " 

"  He  bade  me  salute  thee,  Princess  Irene,  as  if  thou 
wert  now  the  Lady  of  his  House  of  Love  in  his  Gar- 
den of  Perfection,  and  to  pray  if  he  might  come  and 
in  person  kiss  thy  hand,  and  tell  thee  his  hopes,  and 
pour  out  at  thy  feet  his  love  in  heartfuls  larger  than 
ever  woman  had  from  man." 

While  speaking,  the  Sheik  would  have  given  his 
birthright  to  have  seen  her  face. 

Then,  in  a  low  voice,  she  asked: 

"  Does  he  doubt  I  am  a  Christian  ?" 

The  tone  was  not  of  anger ;  with  beatings  of  heart 
trebly  quickened,  he  hastened  to  reply: 

"  '  That  she  is  a  Christian ' — may  God  abandon  my 
mouth,  if  I  quote  him  unfaithfully ! — '  That  she  is  a 
Christian,  I  love  her  the  more.  For  see  you,  Sheik ' — 
by  the  faith  of  an  Arab,  Princess,  I  quote  him  yet, 
word  for  word — 'my  mother  was  a  Christian.'" 

In  the  morning  of  this  very  day  we  have  seen  her 
put  to  like  question  by  Constantine,  and  she  did  not 
hesitate ;  now  the  reply  took  a  time. 

"Say  to  Prince  Mahommed,"  she  at  length  re- 
turned, ' '  that  his  message  presents  itself  honorably, 
for  which  it  is  deserving  a  soft  answer.  His  fancy 
has  played  him  false.  I  cannot  be  the  woman  of  his 
dream.  She  is  young;  I  am  old,  though  not  with 
years.  She  is  gay ;  I  am  serious.  She  is  in  love  with 
life,  hopeful,  joyous;  I  was  born  to  sorrow,  and  in 
sorrow  brought  up,  and  the  religion  which  absorbed 
my  youth  is  now  life's  hold  on  me.  She  will  be  de- 
lighted with  the  splendors  he  has  in  store  for  her; 
so  might  I,  had  not  the  wise  man  long  since  caught 


my  ear  and  judgment  by  the  awful  text,  Vanity  of 
vanities,  all  is  vanity.  While  her  charms  endure  she 
will  keep  him  charmed  with  the  world;  I  could  not 
so  much,  for  the  world  to  come  has  possession  of 
me,  and  the  days  here  are  hut  so  many  of  a  journey 
thither.  Tell  him,  O  Sheik,  while  he  has  been  dream- 
ing of  palaces  and  gardens  in  rivalry  of  Abderrahmau 
the  Kaliph,  I  have  been  dreaming  of  a  house  in 
splendor  beyond  the  conception  of  architects;  and 
asks  he  more  about  it,  tell  him  I  know  it  only  as  a 
house  not  made  with  hands.  Tell  him  I  speak  not  in 
denial  of  possibilities ;  for  by  the  love  I  have  never 
failed  to  accord  the  good  and  noble,  I  might  bend  my 
soul  to  his ;  to  this  hour,  however,  God  and  His  Son 
the  Christ,  and  the  Holy  Mother,  and  the  Angels  and 
deserving  men  and  women  have  taken  up  my  heart 
and  imagination,  and  in  serving  them  I  have  not 
aspired  to  other  happiness.  A  wife  I  might  become, 
not  from  temptation  of  gain  or  power,  or  in  surren- 
der to  love — I  speak  not  in  derision  of  the  passion, 
since,  like  the  admitted  virtues,  it  is  from  God — nay, 
Sheik,  in  illustration  of  what  may  otherwise  be  of 
uncertain  meaning  to  him,  tell  Prince  Mahommed  I 
might  become  his  wife  could  I  by  so  doing  save  or 
help  the  religion  I  profess.  Then,  if  I  brought  him 
love,  the  sacrifice  would  rescue  it  from  every  taint. 
Canst  thou  remember  all  this  ?  And  wilt  thou  deliver 
it  truly?" 

The  Sheik's  demeanor  when  she  ended  was  greatly 
changed ;  his  head  was  quite  upon  his  breast ;  his  atti- 
tude and  whole  appearance  were  disconsolate  to  the 
last  degree. 

"Alas,  Princess!  How  can  I  carry  such  speech  to 
him,  whose  soul  is  consuming  with  hunger  and  thirst 
for  thy  favor  ? " 


360 

"Sheik,"  she  said  in  pity,  "no  master,  I  think,  had 
ever  a  more  faithful  servant  than  thou  hast  proved 
thyself.  Thy  delivery  of  his  message,  could  it  be  pre- 
served, would  be  a  model  for  heralds  in  the  future." 

Thereupon  she  arose,  extended  her  hand  to  him, 
and  he  kissed  it;  and  as  she  remained  standing,  he 
arose  also. 

"Be  seated,"  she  then  said,  and  immediately  that 
they  were  both  in  their  chairs  again,  she  took  direc- 
tion of  the  interview. 

"You  asked  me,  Sheik,  if  I  had  heard  how  Oth- 
man  wooed  and  won  his  Malkatoon,  and  said  it  was 
a  Turkish  romance.  The  Othman,  I  take  it,  was 
founder  of  Prince  Mahommed's  house.  Now,  if  you 
are  not  too  weary,  tell  me  the  story." 

As  the  recital  afforded  him  the  opportunities  to  give 
poetic  expression  to  his  present  feeling,  he  accepted 
the  suggestion  gladly,  and,  being  in  the  right  mood, 
was  singularly  effective.  Half  the  time  listening  she 
was  in  tears.  It  was  past  three  o'clock  when  he  fin- 
ished. The  audience  then  terminated.  In  no  part  of 
it  had  her  manner  been  more  gracious  than  when  she 
conducted  him  along  the  portico,  or  her  loveliness  so 
overwhelming  as  when  she  bade  him  adieu  at  the 
head  of  the  steps. 

Standing  between  columns  near  the  sedilium,  she 
saw  him  enter  his  boat,  take  something  from  the  sit- 
ting-box, step  ashore  again,  and  return  to  her  gate, 
where  he  remained  awhile  pounding  with  a  stone. 
The  action  was  curious,  and  when  he  was  out  of  sight 
rounding  the  water  front  of  the  promontory,  she  sent 
Lysander  to  investigate. 

"The  infidel  has  fixed  a  brass  plate  to  the  right- 
hand  post  of  the  kiosk,"  the  ancient  reported,  in  bad 
humor.  ' '  It  may  be  a  curse. " 


361 

The  Princess  then  called  her  attendants,  and  went 
with  them  to  see  the  brass  plate.  There  it  was,  an 
arm's  reach  overhead,  and  affixed  firmly  to  the  post, 
the  corners  turned  down  to  serve  the  tacking.  Graven 
on  its  polished  surface  was  the  following: 


Wholly  unable  to  decipher  it,  she  sent  for  a  Dervish, 
long  resident  in  the  town,  and  returned  to  the  portico. 

"Princess,"  the  old  man  said,  having  viewed  the 
mysterious  plate,  ' '  he  who  did  the  posting  was  a  Turk ; 
and  if  he  were  aged,  I  should  say  thou  hast  enter- 
tained unaware  the  great  Amurath,  Sultan  of  Sultans." 

"But  the  man  was  young." 

"Then  was  he  the  son  of  Amurath,  Prince  Mahom- 
med.  " 

The  Princess  turned  pale. 

"  How  canst  thou  speak  so  positively  ? "  she  asked. 

"It  is  a  teukra;  in  the  whole  world,  O  Princess, 
there  are  but  two  persons  with  authority  to  make  use 
of  it." 

"  And  who  are  they  ? " 

"The  Sultan,  and  Mahommed,next  him  in  the  suc- 
cession." 

In  the  silence  which  ensued,  Lysander  officiously 
proposed  to  remove  the  sign.  The  Dervish  interposed. 

"Wilt  thou  hear  me,  O  Princess,"  he  said,  with  a 
low  reverence,  "whether  the  plate  proceeded  from 
Amurath  or  Mahommed,  or  by  the  order  of  either  of 
them,  the  leaving  it  behind  signifies  more  than  friend- 
ship or  favor — it  is  a  safeguard — a  proclamation  that 
thou  and  thy  people  and  property  here  are  under  pro- 


3C3 

tection  of  the  master  of  all  tlie  Turks.  Were  war  to 
break  out  to-morrow,  thou  mightest  continue  in  thy 
palace  and  garden  with  none  to  make  thee  afraid  save 
thine  own  countrymen.  Wherefore  consider  well  be- 
fore acceding  to  the  rancor  of  this  ancient  madman." 

Thus  the  truth  came  to  the  Princess  Irene.  The 
Singing  Sheik  was  Prince  Mahommed ! 

Twice  he  had  appeared  before  her;  in  the  White 
Castle  once,  and  now  in  her  palace;  and  having  an- 
nounced himself  her  lover,  and  proposed  marriage,  he 
intended  her  to  know  him,  and  also  that  he  was  not 
departing  in  despair.  Hence  the  plate  on  the  gate! 
The  circumstance  was  novel  and  surprising.  Her 
present  feelings  were  too  vague  and  uncertain  for 
definition :  but  she  was  not  angry. 

Meantime  Mahommed,  returning  to  the  old  Castle, 
debated  with  himself.  He  loved  the  Princess  Irene 
with  the  passion  of  a  soul  unused  to  denial  or  dis- 
appointment, and  before  he  reached  the  Roumelian. 
Hissar  he  swore  a  Moslem  oath  to  conquer  Constanti- 
nople, less  for  Islam  and  glory,  than  for  her.  And 
from  that  hour  the  great  accomplishment  took  hold  of 
him  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else. 

At  Hissar  he  ascended  the  mountain,  and,  standing- 
on  the  terreplein  of  the  precipice  in  front  of  what  is 
now  Robert  College,  he  marked  the  narrowness  of  the 
Bosphorus  below,  and  thinking  of  the  military  neces- 
sity for  a  crossing  defended  on  both  shores,  he  selected 
a  site  for  a  castle  on  the  European  side  opposite  the 
White  Castle  in  Asia.  In  due  time  we  will  have  occa- 
sion to  notice  the  creation  of  the  walls  and  towers  of 
the  stupendous  fortification  yet  standing  between  Be- 
bek  and  Hissar,  a  monument  to  his  energy  and  sagacity 
more  imposing  than  anything  left  by  him  in  Con- 
stantinople. 


BOOK  IV 

TILE  PALACE  OF  BLACHEBNE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   PALACE  OF  BLACHERNE 

THE  Prince  of  India  was  not  given  to  idle  expecta- 
tions. He  might  deceive  others,  but  he  seldom  de- 
ceived himself.  His  experience  served  him  propheti- 
cally in  matters  largely  dependent  on  motives  ordinarily 
influential  with  men.  He  was  confident  the  Emperor 
would  communicate  with  him,  and  soon. 

The  third  day  after  the  adventure  at  the  White 
Castle,  a  stranger,  mounted,  armed,  and  showily  ca- 
parisoned, appeared  at  the  Prince's  door  under  guid- 
ance of  Uel.  In  the  study,  to  which  he  was  bidden, 
he  announced  himself  the  bearer  of  a  complimentary 
message  from  His  Majesty,  concluding  with  an  invita- 
tion to  the  palace  of  Blacherne.  If  agreeable,  His 
Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  receive  the  Indian  digni- 
tary in  the  afternoon  at  three  o'clock.  An  officer  of 
the  guard  would  be  at  the  Grand  Gate  for  his  escort. 
The  honor,  needless  to  say,  was  accepted  in  becoming 
terms. 

When  the  Prince  descended  to  the  hall  of  entry  on 
the  ground  floor  to  take  the  sedan  there,  the  unusual 
care  given  his  attire  was  apparent.  His  beard  was 
immaculately  white.  His  turban  of  white  silk,  bal- 
loon in  shape,  and  with  a  dazzle  of  precious  stones  in 
front,  was  a  study.  Over  a  shirt  of  finest  linen,  with 
ruffles  of  lace  at  the  throat  and  breast,  there  was  a 
plain  gown  of  heavy  black  velvet,  buttoned  at  the 


366 

neck,  but  open  down  to  a  yellow  sash  around  the 
waist.  The  sash  was  complemented  by  a  belt  which 
was  a  mass  of  pearls  in  relief  on  a  ground  of  gold  em- 
broidery. The  belt-plate  and  crescented  sword  scab- 
bard were  aflame  with  brilliants  on  blue  enamelling. 
His  trousers,  ample  as  a  skirt,  were  of  white  satin 
overflowing  at  the  ankles.  Pointed  red  slippers,  spark- 
ling with  embroidery  of  small  golden  beads,  completed 
the  costume. 

The  procession  in  the  street  was  most  striking.  First 
Nilo,  as  became  a  king  of  Kash-Cush,  barbarously 
magnificent ;  the  sedan  next,  on  the  shoulders  of  four 
carriers  in  white  livery ;  at  the  rear,  two  domestics  ar- 
rayed a  la  Cipango,  then*  strange  blue  garments  fit- 
ting them  so  close  as  to  impede  their  walking;  yet  as 
one  of  them  bore  his  master's  paper  sunshade  and 
ample  cloak,  and  the  other  a  cushion  bloated  into  the 
proportions  of  a  huge  pillow,  they  were  by  no  means 
wanting  in  self-importance.  Syama,  similarly  attired, 
though  in  richer  material,  walked  at  the  side  of  the 
sedan,  ready  to  open  the  door  or  answer  such  signal 
as  he  might  receive  from  within. 

The  appearance  of  this  retinue  in  the  streets  was  a 
show  to  the  idle  and  curious,  who  came  together  as  if 
rendered  out  of  the  earth,  and  in  such  numbers  that 
before  fairly  reaching  the  thoroughfare  by  which  the 
Grand  Gate  of  Blacherne  was  usually  approached  from 
the  city  side,  the  gilded  box  on  the  shoulders  of  its 
bearers  looked,  off  a  little  way,  not  unlike  a  boat 
rocking  hi  waves. 

Fortunately  the  people  started  in  good  humor,  and 
meeting  nothing  to  break  the  mood,  they  permitted 
the  Prince  to  accomplish  his  journey  without  inter- 
ruption. The  companionship  of  the  crowd  was  really 
agreeable  to  him;  he  hardly  knew  whether  it  were 


887 

pleasanter  to  be  able  to  excite  such  respectful  curiosity 
than  to  gratify  it  successfully.  It  might  have  been 
otherwise  had  Lael  been  with  him. 

The  Very  High  Residence,  as  the  Palace  of  Blacheme 
was  generally  spoken  of  by  Greeks,  was  well  known 
to  the  Prince  of  India.  The  exclamation  with  which 
he  settled  himself  in  the  sedan  at  setting  out  from  his 
house — "Again,  again,  O  Blacherne!" — disclosed  a 
previous  personal  acquaintance  with  the  royal  prop- 
erty. And  over  and  over  again  on  the  way  he 
kept  repeating,  "O  Blacherne!  Beautiful  Blacherne ! 
Bloom  the  roses  as  of  old  in  thy  gardens  ?  Do  the 
rivulets  in  thy  alabaster  courts  still  run  singing  to  the 
mosaic  angels  on  the  walls  ? " 

As  to  the  date  of  these  recollections,  if,  as  the  poets 
tell  us,  time  is  like  a  flowing  river,  and  memory  a 
bridge  for  the  conveniency  of  the  soul  returning  to  its 
experiences,  how  far  had  this  man  to  travel  the  struc- 
ture before  reaching  the  Blacherne  he  formerly  knew  ? 
Over  what  tremendous  spaces  between  piers  did  it 
carry  him ! 

The  street  traversed  by  the  Prince  carried  him  first 
to  the  Gate  of  St.  Peter  on  the  Golden  Horn,  and 
thence,  almost  parallel  with  the  city  wall,  to  Balat,  a 
private  landing  belonging  to  the  Emperor,  at  present 
known  as  the  gate  of  Blacherne. 

At  the  edge  of  an  area  marble  paved,  the  people 
stopped,  it  being  the  limit  of  their  privilege.  Crossing 
the  pavement,  the  visitor  was  set  down  in  front  of  the 
Grand  Gate  of  the  Very  High  Residence.  History, 
always  abominating  lapses,  is  yet  more  tender  of  some 
places  than  others.  There,  between  flanking  towers, 
an  iron-plated  valve  strong  enough  to  defy  attack  by 
any  of  the  ancient  methods  was  swung  wide  open, 
ready  nevertheless  to  be  rolled  to  at  set  of  sun. 


368 

The  guard  halted  the  Prince,  and  an  officer  took  his 
name,  and  apologizing  for  a  brief  delay,  disappeared 
with  it.  Alighting  from  his  sedan,  the  worthy  pro- 
ceeded to  take  observation  and  muse  while  waiting. 

The  paved  area  on  which  he  stood  was  really  the 
bottom  of  a  well-defined  valley  which  ran  off  and  up 
irregularly  toward  the  southeast,  leaving  an  ascent  on 
its  right  memorable  as  the  seventh  hill  of  Constanti- 
nople. A  stone  wall  marked  here  and  there  by  sen- 
tinel boxes,  each  with  a  red  pennon  on  its  top,  strag- 
gled down  along  the  foot  of  the  ascent  to  the  Grand 
Gate.  There  between  octangular  towers  loopholed 
and  finished  battlement  style  was  a  covered  passage 
suggestive  of  Egypt.  Two  Victories  in  high  relief 
blew  trumpets  at  each  other  across  the  entrance  front. 
Ponderous  benches  of  porphyry,  polished  smooth  by 
ages  of  usage,  sat  one  on  each  side  for  the  guards; 
fellows  in  helmets  of  shining  brass,  cuirasses  of  the 
same  material  inlaid  with  silver,  greaves,  and  shoes 
stoutly  buckled.  Those  of  them  sitting  sprawled 
their  bulky  limbs  broadly  over  the  benches.  The 
few  standing  seemed  like  selected  giants,  with  blond 
beards  and  blue  eyes,  and  axes  at  least  three  spans  in 
length  along  their  whetted  edges.  The  Prince  recog- 
nized the  imperial  guards — Danes,  Saxons,  Germans, 
and  Swiss — their  nationalities  merged  into  the  corps 
entitled  Varangians. 

Conscious,  but  unmindful  of  their  stare,  he  kept  his 
stand,  and  swept  the  hill  from  bottom  to  top,  giving 
free  rein  to  memory. 

In  449  A.  D. — he  remembered  the  year  and  the 
circumstance  well — an  earthquake  threw  down  the 
wall  then  enclosing  the  city.  Theodosius  restored  it, 
leaving  the  whole  height  outside  of  this  northwestern 
part  a  preserve  wooded,  rocky,  but  with  one  posses- 


sion  which  had  become  so  infinitely  sanctified  in  By- 
zantine estimation  as  to  impart  the  quality  to  all  its 
appurtenances,  that  was  the  primitive  but  Very  Holy 
Church  of  Blacherne,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin. 

Near  the  church  there  was  a  pleasure  house  to 
which  the  Emperors,  vainly  struggling  to  escape  the 
ceremonies  the  clergy  had  fastened  upon  them  to  the 
imbitterment  of  life,  occasionally  resorted,  and  down 
on  the  shore  of  the  Golden  Horn  a  zoological  garden 
termed  the  Cynegion  had  been  established.  The  latter 
af terwhile  came  to  have  a  gallery  in  which  the  public 
was  sometimes  treated  to  games  and  combats  between 
lions,  tigers,  and  elephants.  There  also  criminals  and 
heretics  were  frequently  carried  and  flung  to  the 
beasts. 

Nor  did  the  Prince  fail  to  recall  that  in  those  cycles 
the  sovereigns  resided  preferably  in  the  Bucoleon, 
eastwardly  by  the  sea  of  Marmora.  He  remembered 
some  of  them  as  acquaintances  with  whom  he  had 
been  on  close  terms — Justinian,  Heraclius,  Irene,  and 
the  Porphyrogeniti. 

The  iconoclastic  masters  of  that  cluster  of  magnifi- 
cent tenements,  the  Bucoleon,  had  especial  claims 
upon  his  recollection.  Had  he  not  incited  them  to 
many  of  their  savageries  ?  They  were  incidents,  it  is 
true,  sadly  out  of  harmony  with  his  present  dream; 
still  their  return  now  was  with  a  certain  fluttering  of 
the  spirit  akin  to  satisfaction,  for  the  victims  in  nearly 
every  case  had  been  Christians,  and  his  business  of 
life  then  was  vengeance  for  the  indignities  and  suffer- 
ings inflicted  on  his  countrymen. 

With  a  more  decided  flutter,  he  remembered  a 
scheme  he  put  into  effect  just  twenty  years  after  the 
restoration  of  the  wall  by  Theodosius.  In  the  charac- 
ter of  a  pious  Christianized  Israelite  resident  in  Jeru- 
24 


370 

salem,  he  pretended  to  have  found  the  vestments  of  the 
Holy  Mother  of  Christ.  The  discovery  was  of  course 
miraculous,  and  he  reported  it  circumstantially  to  the 
Patriarchs  Galvius  and  Candidus.  For  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  exaltation  of  the  Faith,  they  brought  the 
relics  to  Constantinople.  There,  amidst  most  solemn 
pomp,  the  Emperor  assisting,  they  were  deposited  in 
the  Church  of  Saints  Peter  and  Mark,  to  be  transferred 
a  little  later  to  then-  final  resting-place  in  the  holier 
Church  of  the  Virgin  of  Blacherne.  There  was  a  world 
of  pious  propriety  in  the  idea  that  as  the  vestments  be- 
longed to  the  Mother  of  God  they  would  better  become 
her  own  house.  The  Himation  or  Maphorion,  as  the 
robe  of  the  Virgin  was  called,  brought  the  primitive 
edifice  in  the  woods  above  the  Cynegion  a  boundless 
increase  of  sanctity,  while  the  discoverer  received  the 
freedom  of  the  city,  the  reverence  of  the  clergy,  and 
the  confidence  of  the  Basileus. 

Nor  did  the  prodigious  memory  stay  there.  The  hill 
facing  the  city  was  of  three  terraces.  On  the  second 
one,  half  hidden  among  cypress  and  plane  trees,  he  be- 
held a  building,  low,  strong,  and,  from  his  direction, 
showing  but  one  window.  Some  sixteen  years  pre- 
vious, during  his  absence  in  Cipango,  a  fire  had  de- 
stroyed the  Church  of  the  Virgin,  and  owing  to  the 
poverty  of  the  people  and  empire,  the  edifice  had  not 
been  rebuilt.  This  lesser  unpretentious  structure  was 
the  Chapel  of  Blacherne  which  the  flames  had  consid- 
erately spared.  He  recognized  it  instantly,  and  re- 
membered it  as  full  of  inestimable  relics — amongst 
them  the  Himation,  considered  indestructible;  the 
Holy  Cross  which  Heraclius,  in  the  year  635,  had 
brought  from  Jerusalem,  and  delivered  to  Sergius ;  and 
the  Panagia  Blachemitissa,  or  All  Holy  Banner  of 
the  Image  of  the  Virgin. 


sn 

Then  rose  another  reminiscence,  and  though  to  reach 
him  it  had  to  fly  across  a  chasm  of  hundreds  of  years, 
it  presented  itself  with  the  distinctness  of  an  affair  of 
yesterday.  In  626,  Heraclius  being  Emperor,  a  legion 
of  Avars  and  Persians  sacked  Scutari,  on  the  Asiatic 
side  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  laid  siege  to  Constanti- 
nople. The  Byzantines  were  in  awful  panic ;  and  they 
would  have  yielded  themselves  had  not  Sergius  the 
Patriarch  been  in  control.  With  a  presence  of  mind 
equal  to  the  occasion,  he  brought  the  Panagia  forth, 
and  supported  by  an  army  of  clerics  and  monks,  trav- 
ersed the  walls,  waving  the  All  Holy  Banner.  A 
volley  of  arrows  from  invisible  archers  fell  upon  the 
audacious  infidels,  and  the  havoc  was  dreadful;  they 
fled,  and  their  prince,  the  Khagan,  fled  with  them, 
declaring  he  had  seen  a  woman  in  shining  garments 
but  of  awful  presence  on  the  walls.  The  woman  was 
the  Holy  Mother ;  and  with  a  conceit  easily  mistaken 
for  gratitude,  the  Byzantines  declared  then'  capital 
thenceforward  guarded  by  God.  When  they  went  out 
to  the  Church  in  the  Woods  and  found  it  unharmed 
by  the  enemy,  they  were  persuaded  the  Mother  had 
adopted  them;  in  return,  what  could  they  else  than 
adopt  her  ?  Pisides,  the  poet,  composed  a  hymn  to 
glorify  her.  The  Church  consecrated  the  day  of  the 
miraculous  deliverance  a  fete  day  observable  by  Greeks 
forever.  The  Emperor  removed  the  old  building,  and 
on  its  site  raised  another  of  a  beauty  more  expressive 
of  devotion.  To  secure  it  from  ravage  and  profana- 
tion, he  threw  a  strong  wall  around  the  whole  vener- 
ated hill,  and  by  demolishing  the  ancient  work  of 
Theodosius,  made  Blacherne  a  part  of  the  city. 

By  and  by  the  Church  required  enlargement,  and 
it  was  then  cruci-formed  by  the  addition  of  transepts 
right  and  left.  Still  later,  a  Chapel  was  erected  spec- 


373 

ially  for  the  relics  and  the  All  Holy  Banner.  This 
was  contiguous  to  the  Church,  and  besides  being  fire- 
proof, it  covered  a  spring  of  pure  water,  afterwards 
essential  in  many  splendid  ceremonies  civil  as  well  as 
religious.  The  Chamber  of  Relics  was  prohibited  to 
all  but  the  Basileus.  He  alone  could  enter  it.  By 
great  favor,  the  Prince  of  India  was  once  permitted 
to  look  into  the  room,  and  he  remembered  it  large 
and  dimly  lighted,  its  shadows  alive,  however,  with 
the  glitter  of  silver  and  gold  in  every  conceivable 
form,  offered  there  as  the  Wise  Men  laid  their  gifts 
before  the  Child  in  the  Cave  of  the  Nativity. 

Again  and  again  the  Church  was  burned,  yet  the 
Chapel  escaped.  It  seemed  an  object  of  divine  pro- 
tection. The  sea  might  deliver  tempests  against  the 
Seven  Hills,  earthquakes  shake  the  walls  down  and 
crack  the  hanging  dome  of  St.  Sophia,  cinders  whiten 
paths  from  the  porphyry  column  over  by  the  Hippo- 
drome to  the  upper  tei'race  of  Blacherne  ;  yet  the 
Chapel  escaped — yet  the  holy  fountain  in  its  crypt 
flowed  on  purer  growing  as  the  centuries  passed. 

The  Prince,  whose  memories  we  are  but  weaving 
into  words,  did  not  wonder  at  the  increase  of  venera- 
tion attaching  to  the  Chapel  and  its  precious  deposits 
— manuscripts,  books,  bones,  flags,  things  personal  to 
the  Apostles,  the  Saints,  the  Son  and  His  Mother,  par- 
ings of  their  nails,  locks  of  their  hair,  spikes  and 
splinters  of  the  Cross  itself — he  did  not  wonder  at  it, 
or  smile,  for  he  knew  there  is  a  devotional  side  to 
every  man  which  wickedness  may  blur  but  cannot 
obliterate.  He  himself  was  going  about  the  world 
convinced  that  the  temple  of  Solomon  was  the  House 
of  God. 

The  guards  sprawling  on  the  benches  kept  staring 
at  him ;  one  of  them  let  his  axe  fall  without  so  much 


378 

as  attracting  the  Prince's  attention.  His  memory, 
with  a  hold  on  him  too  firm  to  be  disturbed  by  such 
trifles,  insisted  on  its  resurrectionary  work,  and  re- 
turned him  to  the  year  865.  Constantinople  was 
again  besieged,  this  time  by  a  horde  from  the  Russian 
wilderness  under  the  chiefs  Dir  and  Askold.  They 
had  passed  the  upper  sea  in  hundreds  of  boats,  and 
disembarking  on  the  European  shore,  marched  down 
the  Bosphorus,  leaving  all  behind  them  desolate. 
Photius  was  then  Patriarch.  When  the  fleet  was 
descried  from  the  walls,  he  prevailed  on  the  Emperor 
to  ask  the  intervention  of  the  Virgin.  The  Mapho- 
rion  or  Sacred  Robe  was  brought  out,  and  in  presence 
of  the  people  on  their  knees,  the  clergy  singing  the 
hymn  of  Pisides,  the  holy  man  plunged  it  into  the 
waves. 

A  wind  arose  under  which  the  water  in  its  rocky 
trough  was  as  water  in  a  shaken  bowl.  The  ships  of 
the  invaders  sunk  each  other.  Not  one  survived.  Of 
the  men,  those  who  lived  came  up  out  of  the  vortexes 
praying  to  be  taken  to  the  Church  of  Blacherne  for 
baptism.  This  was  two  hundred  years  and  more  after 
the  first  deliverance  of  the  city,  and  yet  the  Mother 
was  faithful  to  her  chosen ! — Constantinople  was  still 
the  guarded  of  Grod ! — The  Penagia  was  still  the  All 
Holy  !  Having  repulsed  the  Muscovite  invasion, 
what  excuse  for  his  blasphemy  would  there  be  left 
the  next  to  challenge  its  terrors  ? 

The  Prince  of  India  saw  the  blackened  walls  of  the 
burned  Church,  an  appealing  spectacle  which  the  sur- 
rounding trees  tried  to  cover  with  their  foliage,  but 
could  not ;  then  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  the  Palace  upon 
the  third  terrace. 

To  the  hour  decay  sets  in  the  touches  of  Time  are 
usually  those  of  an  artist  who  loves  his  subject,  and 


374 

wishes  merely  to  soften  or  ennoble  its  expression.  So 
had  he  dealt  with  the  Very  High  Residence. 

It  began  in  the  low  ground  down  by  the  Cynegion, 
and  arose  with  the  city  wall,  which  was  in  fact  its 
southwestern  front.  Though  always  spoken  of  in  the 
singular,  like  the  Bucoleon,  it  was  a  collection  of  pal- 
aces, vast,  irregular,  and  declai  ative  of  the  taste  of 
the  different  eras  they  severally  memorialized.  The 
spaces  between  them  formed  courts  and  places  under 
cover ;  yet  as  the  architects  had  adhered  to  the  idea  of 
a  main  front  toward  the  northeast,  there  appeared  a 
certain  unity  of  design  in  the  structures. 

This  main  front,  now  under  the  Prince's  view,  was 
frequently  broken,  advancing  here,  retreating  there; 
one  section  severely  plain  and  sombre  ;  another  re- 
lieved by  porticos  with  figured  friezes  resting  on  tall 
columns.  The  irregularities  were  pleasing;  some  of 
them  were  stately  ;  and  they  were  all  helped  not  a 
little  by  domes  and  pavilions  without  which  the  roof 
lines  would  have  been  monotonous. 

Lifting  his  gaze  up  the  ascent  from  the  low 
ground,  it  rested  presently  on  a  Tower  built  boldly 
upon  the  Heraclian  wall.  This  was  the  highest  pin- 
nacle of  the  Palace,  first  to  attract  the  observer,  long- 
est to  hold  his  attention.  No  courier  was  required  to 
tell  its  history  to  him  through  whose  eyes  we  are  now 
looking — it  was  the  tower  of  Isaac  Angelus.  How 
clearly  its  outlines  cut  the  cloudless  sky  !  How 
strong  it  seemed  up  there,  as  if  built  by  giants !  Yet 
with  windows  behind  balconies,  how  airy  and  grace- 
ful withal !  The  other  hills  of  the  city,  and  the  popu- 
lated valleys  between  the  hills,  spread  out  below  it,  like 
an  unrolled  map.  The  warders  of  the  Bucoleon,  or 
what  is  now  Point  Serail,  the  home-returning  mariner 
shipping  oars  off  Scutari,  the  captain  of  the  helmeted 


875 

column  entering  the  Golden  Gate  down  by  the  Seven 
Towers,  the  insolent  Genoese  on  the  wharves  of  Galata, 
had  only  to  look  up,  and  lo !  the  perch  of  Isaac.  And 
when,  as  often  must  have  happened,  the  privileged 
lord  himself  sat  midafternoons  on  the  uppermost  bal- 
cony of  the  Tower,  how  the  prospect  soothed  the  fever 
of  his  spirit !  If  he  were  weary  of  the  city,  there  was 
the  Marmora,  always  ready  to  reiterate  the  hues  of  the 
sky,  and  in  it  the  Isles  of  the  Princes,  their  verdurous 
shades  permeated  with  dreamful  welcome  to  the  pleas- 
ure-seeker as  well  as  the  monk ;  or  if  he  longed  for  a 
further  flight,  old  Asia  made  haste  with  enticing  invi- 
tation to  some  of  the  villas  strewing  its  littoral  behind 
the  Isles ;  and  yonder,  to  the  eye  fainting  in  the  dis- 
tance, scarce  more  than  a  pale  blue  boundary  cloud, 
the  mountain  beloved  by  the  gods,  whither  they  were 
wont  to  assemble  at  such  times  as  they  wished  to  learn 
how  it  fared  with  Ilium  and  the  sons  of  Priam,  or 
to  enliven  their  immortality  with  loud  symposia.  A 
prospect  so  composed  would  seem  sufficient,  if  once 
seen,  to  make  a  blind  man's  darkness  perpetually 
luminous. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  superlative  magnate  pre- 
ferred the  balcony  on  the  western  side  of  the  Tower. 
There  he  could  sit  in  the  shade,  cooled  by  waftures 
from  a  wide  campania  southward,  or,  peering  over  the 
balustrade,  watch  the  peasantry  flitting  through  the 
breaks  of  the  Kosmidion,  now  the  purlieus  of  Eyoub. 

Again  the  Prince  was  carried  back  through  centu- 
ries. It  had  been  determined  to  build  at  Blacherne; 
but  the  hill  was  steep.  How  could  spaces  be  gained 
for  foundations,  for  courts  and  gardens  ?  The  archi- 
tects pondered  the  problem.  At  last  one  of  bolder 
genius  came  forward.  We  will  accept  the  city  wall 
for  a  western  front,  he  said,  and  build  from  it;  and  for 


876 

levels,  allow  us  to  commence  at  the  foot  of  the  height, 
and  rear  arches  upon  arches.  The  proposal  was  ac- 
cepted ;  and  thereafter  for  years  the  quarter  was  cum- 
bered with  brick  and  skeleton  frames,  and  workingmen 
were  numerous  and  incessantly  busy  as  colonized  ants. 
Thus  the  ancient  pleasure  house  disappeared,  and  the 
first  formal  High  Residence  took  its  place ;  at  the  same 
time  the  Bucoleon,  for  so  many  ages  the  glory  of  Con- 
stantinople, was  abandoned  by  its  masters. 

Who  was  the  first  permanent  occupant  of  the  Palace 
of  Blacherne  ?  The  memory,  theretofore  so  prompt, 
had  now  no  reply.  No  matter — the  Prince  recalled 
sessions  had  with  Angelus  on  the  upper  balcony  yon- 
der. He  remembered  them  on  account  of  his  host  one 
day  saying:  "Here  I  arn  safe."  The  next  heard  of 
him  he  was  a  captive  and  blind. 

Passing  on  rapidly,  he  remembered  the  appearance 
of  Peter  the  Hermit  in  the  gorgeous  reception  room  of 
the  Palace  in  1096.  Quite  as  distinctly,  he  also  remem- 
bered the  audience  Alexis  I.  tendered  Godfrey  of 
Bouillon  and  his  Barons  in  the  same  High  Residence. 

What  a  contrast  the  host  and  his  guests  presented 
that  day !  The  latter  were  steel  clad  from  head  to  foot 
and  armed  for  battle,  while  Alexis  was  a  spectacle  of 
splendor  unheard  of  in  the  barbarous  West.  How  the 
preachers  and  eunuchs  in  the  silk-gowned  train  of  the 
one  trembled  as  the  redoubtables  of  the  West  mangled 
the  velvet  carpets  with  their  cruel  spurs !  How  pecul- 
iarly the  same  redoubtables  studied  the  pearls  on  the 
yellow  stole  of  the  wily  Comnene  and  the  big  jewels 
in  his  Basilean  mitre — as  if  they  were  counting  and 
weighing  them  mentally,  preliminary  to  casting  up  at 
leisure  a  total  of  value!  And  the  table  ware — this 
plate  and  yon  bowl — were  they  really  gold  or  some 
cunning  deception  ?  The  Greeks  were  so  treacherous  I 


877 

And  when  the  guests  were  gone,  the  Greeks,  on  their 
part,  were  not  in  the  least  surprised  at  the  list  of 
spoons  and  cups  subtly  disappeared — gifts,  they  sup- 
posed, intended  by  the  noble  "  Crosses  "  for  the  most 
Holy  Altar  in  Jerusalem ! 

Still  other  remembrances  of  the  Prince  revived  at 
sight  of  the  Palace — many  others — amongst  them,  how 
the  Varangians  beat  the  boastful  Montferrat  and  the 
burly  Count  of  Flanders  in  the  assault  of  1203,  spec- 
ially famous  for  the  gallantry  of  old  Dandolo,  operat- 
ing with  his  galleys  on  the  side  of  the  Golden  Horn. 
Brave  fellows,  those  Varangians!  Was  the  corps 
well  composed  now  as  then  ?  He  glanced  at  the 
lusty  examples  before  him  on  the  stone  benches, 
thinking  they  might  shortly  have  to  answer  the 
question. 

These  reminiscences,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  were 
of  brief  passage  with  the  Prince,  much  briefer  than 
the  time  taken  in  writing  them.  They  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  appearance  of  a  military  official  whose 
uniform  and  easy  manner  bespoke  palace  life.  He 
begged  to  be  informed  if  he  had  the  honor  of  address- 
ing the  Prince  of  India ;  and  being  affirmatively  as- 
sured, he  announced  himself  sent  to  conduct  him  to 
His  Majesty.  The  hill  was  steep,  and  the  way  some- 
what circuitous ;  did  the  Prince  need  assistance  ?  The 
detention,  he  added,  was  owing  to  delay  in  getting 
intelligence  of  the  Prince's  arrival  to  His  Majesty, 
who  had  been  closely  engaged,  arranging  for  cer- 
tain ceremonies  which  were  to  occur  in  the  evening. 
Perhaps  His  Majesty  had  appointed  the  audience 
imagining  the  ceremonies  might  prove  entertaining 
to  the  Prince.  These  civilities,  and  others,  were  prop- 
erly responded  to,  and  presently  the  cortege  was  in 

motion. 

35 


378 

The  lower  terrace  was  a  garden  of  singular  perfec- 
tion. 

On  the  second  terrace,  the  party  came  to  the  ruined 
Church  where,  during  a  halt,  the  officer  told  of  the 
fire.  His  Majesty  had  registered  a  vow,  he  said,  at 
the  end  of  the  story,  to  rebuild  the  edifice  in  a  style 
superior  to  any  former  restoration. 

The  Prince,  while  listening,  observed  the  place. 
Excepting  the  Church,  it  was  as  of  old.  There  the 
grove  of  cypresses,  very  ancient,  and  tall  and  dark. 
There,  too,  the  Chapel  of  purplish  stone,  and  at  one 
side  of  it  the  sentry  box  and  bench,  and  what  seemed 
the  identical  detail  of  Varangians  on  duty.  There 
the  enclosed  space  between  the  edifices,  and  the  road 
across  the  pavement  to  the  next  terrace  only  a  little 
deeper  worn.  There  the  arched  gateway  of  massive 
masonry  through  which  the  road  conducted,  the  carv- 
ing about  it  handsome  as  ever;  and  there,  finally, 
from  the  base  of  the  Chapel,  the  brook,  undiminished 
in  volume  and  song,  ran  off  out  of  sight  into  the 
grove,  an  old  acquaintance  of  the  Prince's. 

Moving  on  through  the  arched  way,  the  guide  led 
up  to  the  third  and  last  terrace.  Near  the  top  there 
was  a  cut,  and  on  its  right  embankment  a  party  of 
workmen  spreading  and  securing  a  canopy  of  red 
cloth. 

" Observe,  O  Prince,"  the  officer  said.  "From  this 
position,  if  I  mistake  not,  you  will  witness  the  cere- 
mony I  mentioned  as  in  preparation. " 

The  guest  had  time  to  express  his  gratification, 
when  the  Palace  of  Blacherne,  the  Very  High  Resi- 
dence, burst  upon  him  in  long  extended  view,  a  mar- 
vel of  imperial  prodigality  and  Byzantine  genius. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  AUDIENCE 

THE  sedan  was  set  down  before  a  marble  gate  on  the 
third  terrace. 

"  My  duty  is  hardly  complete.  Suffer  me  to  con- 
duct you  farther,"  the  officer  said,  politely,  as  the 
Prince  stepped  from  the  box. 

"  And  my  servants  ?  " 

"  They  will  await  you." 

The  speakers  were  near  the  left  corner  of  a  building 
which  projected  considerably  from  the  general  front 
line  of  the  Palace.  The  wall,  the  gateway,  and  the 
building  were  of  white  marble  smoothly  dressed. 

After  a  few  words  with  Syama,  the  Prince  followed 
his  guide  into  a  narrow  enclosure  on  the  right  of  which 
there  was  a  flight  of  steps,  and  on  the  left  a  guard 
house.  Ascending  the  steps,  the  two  traversed  a  pas- 
sage until  they  came  to  a  door. 

"  The  waiting-room.     Enter,"  said  the  conductor. 

Four  heavily  curtained  windows  lighted  the  apart- 
ment. In  the  centre  there  were  a  massive  table,  and, 
slightly  removed  from  it,  a  burnished  copper  brazier. 
Bright-hued  rugs  covered  the  floor,  and  here  and  there 
stools  carven  and  upholstered  were  drawn  against  the 
painted  walls.  The  officer,  having  seen  his  charge  com- 
fortably seated,  excused  himself  and  disappeared. 

Hardly  was  he  gone  when  two  servants  handsomely 
attired  came  hi  with  refreshments — fruits  in  natural 


880 

state,  fruits  candied,  sweetened  bread,  sherbet,  wine 
and  water.  A  chief  followed  them,  and,  with  much 
humility  of  manner,  led  the  Prince  to  a  seat  at  the 
table,  and  invited  him  to  help  himself .  The  guest  was 
then  left  alone ;  and  while  he  ate  and  drank  he  won- 
dered at  the  stillness  prevalent;  the  very  house  seemed 
in  awe. 

Ere  long  another  official  entered,  and  after  apolo- 
gizing for  introducing  himself,  said :  "I  am  Dean  of 
the  Court.  In  the  absence  of  my  lord  Phranza,  it  has 
fallen  to  me  to  discharge,  well  as  I  can,  the  duties  of 
Grand  Chamberlain." 

The  Prince,  observant  of  the  scrutinizing  glance  the 
Dean  gave  his  person,  acknowledged  the  honor  done 
him,  and  the  pleasure  he  derived  from  the  acquaint- 
ance. The  Dean  ought  to  be  happy ;  he  had  great  fame 
in  the  city  and  abroad  as  a  most  courteous,  intelligent, 
and  faithful  servant ;  there  was  no  doubt  he  deserved 
preeminently  the  confidence  his  royal  master  reposed 
in  him. 

"  I  am  come,  O  Prince,"  the  old  functionary  said, 
after  thanks  for  the  friendly  words,  ' '  to  ascertain  if 
you  are  refreshed,  and  ready  for  the  audience." 

"I  am  ready." 

"  Let  us  to  His  Majesty  then.  If  I  precede  you,  I 
pray  pardon." 

Drawing  the  portiere  aside,  the  Dean  held  it  for  the 
other's  passage. 

They  entered  an  extensive  inner  court,  surrounded 
on  three  sides  by  a  gallery  resting  on  pillars.  On  the 
fourth  side,  a  magnificent  staircase  ascended  to  a  main 
landing,  whence,  parting  right  and  left,  it  terminated 
in  the  gallery.  Floor,  stairs,  balustrading,  pillars, 
everything  here  was  red  marble  flooded  with  light 
from  a  circular  aperture  in  the  roof  open  to  the  sky. 


381 

Along  the  stairs,  at  intervals,  officers  armed  and 
in  armor  were  stationed,  and  keeping  their  positions 
faced  inwardly,  they  seemed  like  statues.  Other 
armed  men  were  in  the  galleries.  The  silence  was 
impressive.  Coming  presently  to  an  arched  door,  the 
Prince  glanced  into  a  deep  chamber,  and  at  the  fur- 
ther end  of  it  beheld  the  Emperor  seated  in  a  chair 
of  state  on  a  dais  curtained  and  canopied  with  purple 
velvet. 

"Take  heed  now,  O  Prince,"  said  the  Dean,  in  a 
low  voice.  "  Yonder  is  His  Majesty.  Do  thou  imitate 
me  in  all  things.  Come." 

With  this  kindly  caution  the  Dean  led  into  the 
chamber  of  public  audience.  Just  within  the  door, 
he  halted,  crossed  hands  upon  his  breast,  and  dropped 
to  his  knees,  his  eyes  downcast;  rising,  he  kept  on 
about  halfway  to  the  dais,  and  again  knelt;  when 
near  his  person's  length  from  the  dais,  he  knelt  and 
fully  prostrated  himself.  The  Prince  punctiliously 
executed  every  motion,  except  that  at  the  instant  of 
halting  the  last  time  he  threw  both  hands  up  after  the 
manner  of  Orientals.  A  velvet  carpet  of  the  accepted 
imperial  color  stretched  from  door  to  dais  greatly 
facilitated  the  observances. 

A  statuesque  soldier,  with  lance  and  shield,  stood  at 
the  left  of  the  dais,  a  guard  against  treachery ;  by  the 
chair,  bare-headed,  bare-legged,  otherwise  a  figure  in  a 
yellow  tunic  lightly  breastplated,  appeared  the  sword- 
bearer,  his  slippers  stayed  with  bands  of  gold,  a  blade 
clasped  to  his  body  by  the  left  forearm,  the  hilt  above 
his  shoulder ;  and  spacious  as  the  chamber  was,  a  row 
of  dignitaries  civD,  military,  and  ecclesiastical  lined 
the  walls  each  in  prescribed  regalia.  The  hush  al- 
ready noticed  was  observable  here,  indicative  of  rigid 
decorum  and  awful  reverence. 


382 

"  Rise,  Prince  of  India,"  the  Emperor  said,  witheut 
movement. 

The  visitor  obeyed. 

The  last  of  the  Palaeologae  was  in  Basilean  costume ; 
a  golden  circlet  on  his  head  brilliantly  jewelled  and 
holding  a  purple  velvet  cap  in  place ;  an  overgown  of 
the  material  of  the  cap  but  darker  in  tint,  and  belted 
at  the  waist ;  a  mantle  stiff  with  embroidery  of  pearls 
hanging  by  narrow  bands  so  as  to  drop  from  the 
shoulder  over  the  breast  and  back,  leaving  the  neck 
bare ;  an  ample  lap-robe  of  dark  purple  cloth  spark- 
ling with  precious  stones  covering  his  nether  limbs. 
The  chair  was  square  in  form  without  back  or  arms ; 
its  front  posts  twined  and  intricately  inlaid  with  ivory 
and  silver,  and  topped  each  with  a  golden  cone  for 
hand-rest.  The  bareness  of  the  neck  was  relieved  by 
four  strings  of  pearls  dropped  from  the  circlet  two  on 
a  side,  and  drawn  from  behind  the  ears  forward  so  as 
to  lightly  tip  the  upper  edge  of  the  mantle.  The  right 
hand  rested  at  the  moment  on  the  right  cone  of  the 
chair ;  the  left  was  free.  The  attitude  of  the  figure  thus 
presented  was  easy  and  unconstrained,  the  counte- 
nance high  and  noble,  and  altogether  the  guest  ad- 
mitted to  himself  that  he  had  seldom  been  introduced 
to  royalty  more  really  imposing. 

There  was  hardly  an  instant  allowed  for  these 
observations.  To  set  his  guest  at  ease,  Constantine 
continued:  "The  way  to  our  door  is  devious  and  up- 
ward. I  hope  it  has  not  too  severely  tried  you." 

"Your  Majesty,  were  the  road  many  times  more 
trying  I  would  willingly  brave  it  to  be  the  recipient  of 
honors  and  attentions  which  have  made  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople  famous  in  many  far  countries,  and 
not  least  in  mine." 

The  courtierly  turn  of  the  reply  did  not  escape  the 


Emperor.  It  had  been  strange  if  he  had  not  put  the 
character  of  his  guest  to  question ;  indeed,  an  investi- 
gation had  proceeded  by  his  order,  with  the  invita- 
tion to  audience  as  a  result ;  and  now  the  self-posses- 
sion of  the  stranger,  together  with  his  answer,  swept 
the  last  doubt  from  the  imperial  mind.  An  attendant, 
responding  to  a  sign,  came  forward. 

"  Bring  me  wine, "  and  as  the  servant  disappeared 
with  the  order,  Constantine  again  addressed  his  vis- 
itor. "You  maybe  a  Brahman  or  an  Islamite,"  he 
said,  with  a  pleasant  look  to  cover  any  possible  mis- 
take; "in  either  case,  O  Prince,  I  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  offer  of  a  draught  of  Chian  will  not  be  re- 
sented." 

"I  am  neither  a  Mohammedan,  nor  a  devotee  of 
the  gentle  son  of  Maya.  I  am  not  even  a  Hindoo  in 
religion.  My  faith  leads  me  to  be  thankful  for  all 
God's  gifts  to  his  creatures.  I  will  take  the  cup  Your 
Majesty  deigns  to  propose." 

The  words  were  spoken  with  childlike  simplicity  of 
manner ;  yet  nowhere  in  these  pages  have  we  had  a 
finer  example  of  the  subtlety  which,  characteristic  of 
the  speaker,  seemed  inspiration  rather  than  study. 
He  knew  from  general  report  how  religion  domi- 
nated his  host,  and  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
thought  to  pique  curiosity  with  respect  to  his  own 
faith;  seeing,  as  he  fancied,  a  clear  path  to  another 
audience,  with  ampler  opportunity  to  submit  and 
discuss  the  idea  of  Universal  Brotherhood  in  God. 

The  glance  with  which  he  accompanied  assent  to 
the  cup  was  taken  as  a  mere  accentuation  of  gratitude ; 
it  was,  however,  for  discovery.  Had  the  Emperor 
noticed  the  declaration  of  what  he  was  not  ?  Did  his 
intelligence  suggest  how  unusual  it  was  for  an  Indian 
to  be  neither  a  Mohammedan,  nor  a  Brahman,  nor 


384 

even  a  Buddhist  in  religion  ?  He  saw  a  sudden  lifting 
of  the  brows,  generally  the  preliminary  of  a  question ; 
he  even  made  an  answer  ready ;  but  the  other's  im- 
pulse seemed  to  spend  itself  in  an  inquiring  look, 
which,  lingering  slightly,  might  mean  much  or  noth- 
ing. The  Prince  resolved  to  wait. 

Constantino,  as  will  be  seen  presently,  did  observe 
the  negations,  and  was  moved  to  make  them  the  sub- 
ject of  remark  at  the  moment ;  but  inordinately  sensi- 
tive respecting  his  own  religious  convictions,  he  im- 
agined others  like  himself  in  that  respect,  and  upon 
the  scruple,  for  which  the  reader  will  not  fail  to  duly 
credit  him,  deferred  inquiry  until  the  visitor  was 
somewhat  better  understood. 

Just  then  the  cupbearer  appeared  with  the  wine ;  a 
girlish  lad  he  was,  with  long  blond  curls.  Kneeling 
before  the  dais,  he  rested  a  silver  platter  and  the  liquor 
sparkling  on  it  in  a  crystal  decanter  upon  his  right 
knee,  waiting  the  imperial  pleasure. 

Taking  the  sign  given  him,  the  Dean  stepped  for- 
ward and  filled  the  two  cups  of  chased  gold  also  on 
the  platter,  and  delivered  them.  Then  the  Emperor 
held  his  cup  up  while  he  said  in  a  voice  sufficiently 
raised  for  general  hearing: 

"  Prince  of  India,  I  desired  your  presence  to-day  the 
rather  to  discharge  myself  of  obligations  for  impor- 
tant assistance  rendered  my  kinswoman,  the  Princess 
Irene  of  Therapia,  during  her  detention  at  the  White 
Castle ;  a  circumstance  of  such  late  occurrence  it  must 
be  still  fresh  in  your  memory.  By  her  account  the 
Governor  was  most  courteous  and  hospitable,  and  exert- 
ed himself  to  make  her  stay  in  his  stronghold  agreeable 
as  possible.  Something  truly  extraordinary,  consider- 
ing the  forbidding  exterior  of  the  house,  and  the  lim- 
ited means  of  entertainment  it  must  have  to  offer,  she 


385 

declared  he  succeeded  in  converting  what  threatened 
to  be  a  serious  situation  into  an  adventure  replete  with 
pleasant  surprises.  A  delegate  is  now  at  the  Castle 
assuring  the  Governor  of  my  appreciation  of  his 
friendly  conduct.  By  her  account,  also,  I  am  bound- 
en  to  you,  Prince,  scarcely  less  than  to  him." 

The  gravity  of  the  visitor  at  hearing  this  was  severe- 
ly attacked.  Great  as  was  his  self-control,  he  smiled 
at  thought  of  the  dilemma  the  Governor  was  in,  listen- 
ing to  a  speech  of  royal  thanks  and  receiving  rich 
presents  in  lieu  of  his  young  master  Mahommed. 
When  the  envoy  returned  and  reported,  if  perchance 
he  should  describe  the  Turk  whom  he  found  in  actual 
keeping  of  the  Castle,  the  discrepancy  between  his 
picture  of  the  man  and  that  of  the  Princess  would  be 
both  mysterious  and  remarkable. 

"  Your  Majesty,"  the  Prince  returned,  with  a  depre- 
cating gesture,  "  the  storm  menaced  me  quite  as  much 
as  the  Princess,  and  calls  for  confession  of  my  inability 
to  see  wherein  I  rendered  her  service  free  of  regard 
for  myself.  Indeed,  it  is  my  duty  to  inform  Your 
Majesty,  all  these  noble  witnesses  hearing  me,  that  I 
am  more  beholden  to  your  noble  kinswoman  for  help 
and  deliverance  in  the  affair  than  she  can  be  to  me. 
But  for  the  courage  and  address,  not  to  mention  the 
dignity  and  force  with  which  she  availed  herself  of 
her  royal  relationship,  resolving  what  was  at  first  a 
simple  invitation  to  refuge  into  a  high  treaty  between 
the  heads  of  two  great  powers,  I  and  my  daugh- 
ter"— 

"  Daughter,  said  you  ? " 

"Yes,  Your  Majesty — Heaven  has  so  favored  me — 

I,  my  daughter,  and  my  frightened  boatmen  would 

have  been  committed  to  the  river  near  the  Castle, 

without  recourse  except  in  prayer  to  Heaven.     Nay, 

26 


386 

Your  Majesty,  have  I  permission  to  say  on,  Charity 
had  never  a  sweeter  flowering  than  when  the  Princess 
remembered  to  take  the  stranger  under  her  protection. 
I  am  past  the  age  of  enthusiasm  and  extravagance — 
my  beard  and  dimming  eyes  prove  the  admission — yet 
I  declare,  weighing  each  word,  she  has  the  wit,  the 
spirit,  the  goodness,  the  loveliness  to  be  the  noblest  of 
queens  to  the  best  of  kings ;  and  fails  she  such  choice, 
it  will  be  because  destiny  has  been  struck  by  some  un- 
accountable forgetfulness." 

By  this  time  the  courtiers,  drawn  in  from  the  walls, 
composed  a  very  brilliant  circle  around  the  throne, 
each  one  curious  to  hear  the  stranger  as  he  had  been 
to  see  him ;  and  they  were  quick  to  point  his  last  sen- 
tence ;  for  most  of  them  had  been  with  the  Emperor 
in  the  voyage  to  Therapia,  which  was  still  a  theme  of 
wager  and  wrangle  scarcely  less  interesting  than  in  its 
first  hour.  By  one  impulse  they  ventured  a  glance  at 
the  royal  face,  seeking  a  revelation;  but  the  counte- 
nance was  steady  as  a  mask. 

"  The  encomium  is  well  bestowed,  and  approves  thy 
experience,  Prince,  as  a  reader  of  women,"  Constan- 
tine  said,  with  just  enough  fervor.  "Henceforth  I 
shall  know  the  degree  of  trust  to  repose  in  thy  judg- 
ment, other  problems  as  difficult  being  in  controversy. 
Nevertheless,  is  the  lady  to  be  believed,  then,  O  Prince, 
I  repeat  my  acknowledgment  of  indebtedness.  It 
pleases  me  to  greatly  estimate  thy  influence  and  good 
judgment  happily  exerted.  Mayst  thou  live  long, 
Prince  of  India,  and  always  find  thyself  as  now  among 
friends  who  charge  themselves  to  be  watchful  for  op- 
portunities to  befriend  thee." 

He  raised  the  cup. 

"It  is  Your  Majesty's  pleasure,"  the  guest  replied, 
and  they  drank  together. 


887 

"  A  seat  for  the  Prince  of  India,"  the  Emperor  next 
directed. 

The  chair,  when  brought,  was  declined. 

"  In  my  palace — for  at  home  I  exercise  the  func- 
tions of  a  king — it  often  falls  to  me  to  give  audiences; 
if  public,  we  call  them  durbars  ;  and  then  an  inferior 
may  not  sit  in  my  presence.  The  rule,  like  all  gov- 
erning the  session,  is  of  my  own  enactment.  I  see 
plainly  how  greatly  Your  Majesty  designs  to  heap  me 
with  honors ;  and  if  I  dare  decline  this  one,  it  is  not 
from  disposition  to  do  a  teacher's  part,  but  from  habit 
which  has  the  sanction  of  heredity,  and  the  argument 
self  addressed :  Shall  I  despise  my  own  ordinances  ? 
God  forbid!" 

A  murmur  from  the  concourse  was  distinctly  audi- 
ble, which  the  Dean  interpreted  by  repeated  affirma- 
tive nods.  In  other  words,  by  this  stroke  the  able 
visitor  won  the  court  as  he  had  already  won  its  head ; 
insomuch  that  the  most  doubting  of  the  doubters 
would  not  have  refused  to  certify  him  on  belief  the 
very  Prince  of  India  he  claimed  to  be.  The  Emperor, 
on  his  part,  could  not  but  defer  to  scruples  so  cogently 
and  solemnly  put;  at  the  same  time,  out  of  his  very 
certainty  respecting  the  guest,  he  passed  to  a  question 
which  in  probability  the  reader  has  been  for  some  time 
entertaining. 

"  The  makers  of  a  law  should  be  first  to  observe  it; 
for  having  done  so,  they  then  have  God's  license  to 
exert  themselves  in  its  enforcement ;  and  when  one  is 
found  observant  of  a  principle  which  has  root  so  per- 
ceptibly in  conscience,  to  deny  him  his  pleasure  were 
inexcusable.  Have  thy  will,  Prince." 

The  applause  which  greeted  the  decision  of  His  Maj- 
esty was  hardly  out  of  ear  when  he  proceeded : 

"  Again  I  pray  you,  Sir  Guest — I  greatly  misappre- 


hend  the  travellers  who  tell  of  India,  if  the  people  of 
that  venerable  country  are  not  given  to  ceremonials 
religious  as  well  as  secular.  Many  of  our  own  observ- 
ances of  a  sacred  nature  are  traceable  to  study  and 
discernment  of  the  good  effects  of  form  in  worship, 
and  since  some  of  them  are  unquestionably  borrowed 
from  temples  of  the  Pagan  gods,  yet  others  may  be  of 
Hindoo  origin.  Who  shall  say  ?  Wherefore,  speak- 
ing generally,  I  should  fear  to  ask  you  to  any  of  our 
Church  mysteries  which  I  did  not  know  were  purely 
Greek.  One  such  we  have  this  evening.  We  call 
it  Pannychides.  Its  principal  feature  is  a  proces- 
sion of  monastic  brethren  from  the  holy  houses  of 
ttie  city  and  Islands — all  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
our  Eastern  Church,  which,  please  God,  is  of  broader 
lines  than  our  State.  The  fathers  have  been  assem- 
bling for  the  celebration  several  days.  They  will  form 
in  the  city  at  set  of  sun,  throwing  the  march  into 
the  night.  Here,  within  our  grounds,  more  particu- 
larly at  the  door  of  the  Chapel  of  our  Holy  Virgin  of 
Blacherne,  I  will  meet  them.  They  will  pass  the 
night  in  prayer,  an  army  on  bended  knees,  sorrowing 
for  the  pains  of  our  Saviour  in  Gethsemane.  I  was 
uncertain  what  faith  you  profess ;  yet,  Prince,  I  thought 
• — forgive  me,  if  it  was  an  error — a  sight  of  the  spirit 
of  our  Churchmen  as  it  will  be  manifested  on  this  oc- 
casion might  prove  interesting  to  you ;  so  I  have  taken 
the  liberty  of  ordering  a  stand  erected  for  your  accom- 
modation at  a  position  favorable  to  witnessing  the  pro- 
cession in  movement  up  the  terraces.  No  one  has  seen 
the  spectacle  without  realizing  as  never  before  the 
firmness  of  the  hold  Christ  has  taken  upon  the  souls 
of  men." 

The  last  words  startled  the  Prince.     Christ's  hold 
upon  the  souls  of  men !    The  very  thing  he  wanted  to 


889 

learn,  and,  if  possible,  measure.  A  cloud  of  thoughts 
fell  about  him ;  yet  he  kept  clear  head,  and  answered 
quietly : 

"  Your  Majesty  has  done  me  great  kindness.  I  am 
already  interested  in  the  Mystery.  Since  we  cannot 
hope  ever  to  behold  God  with  these  mortal  eyes,  the 
nearest  amend  for  the  deprivation  is  the  privilege  of 
seeing  men  in  multitudes  demonstrating  their  love  of 
Him." 

Constantine's  eyes  lingered  on  the  Prince's  face. 
The  utterances  attracted  him.  The  manner  was  so 
artfully  reverential  as  not  to  leave  a  suspicion  of  the 
guile  behind  it.  Going  down  great  galleries,  every 
one  has  had  his  attention  suddenly  arrested ;  he  pauses, 
looks,  and  looks  again,  then  wakes  to  find  the  attrac- 
tion was  not  a  picture,  but  only  a  flash  within  his  own 
mind.  So,  with  the  guest  before  him,  the  Emperor 
was  thinking  of  the  man  rather  than  seeing  him — 
thinking  of  him  with  curiosity  fully  awakened,  and  a 
desire  to  know  him  better.  And  had  he  followed  up 
the  desire,  he  would  have  found  its  source  in  the  idea 
that  India  was  a  region  in  which  reflection  and 
psychological  experiment  had  been  exhausted — where 
if  one  appeared  with  a  thought  it  turned  old  ere  it  could 
be  explained — where  wisdom  had  fructified  until  there 
was  no  knowledge  more — where  the  teaching  capacity 
was  all  there  was  remaining.  That  is  to  say,  in  the 
day  of  the  last  Byzantine  Emperor,  centuries  ago, 
humanity  in  India  was,  as  now,  a  clock  stopped,  but 
stopped  in  the  act  of  striking,  leaving  a  glory  in  the 
air  imaginable  like  the  continuing  sound  of  hushed 
cathedral  bells. 

" Prince,"  he  at  length  said,  "you  will  remain  here 
until  the  procession  is  announced  at  the  Grand  Gate. 
I  will  then  give  you  a  guide  and  a  guard.  Our  stew- 


390 

ard  has  orders  to  look  after  your  comfort."  Turning 
then  to  the  acting  Chamberlain,  he  added:  "Good 
Dean,  have  we  not  a  little  time  in  which  to  hear  our 
guest  further  ? " 

"  Your  Majesty,  an  hour  at  least." 

"  You  hear,  O  Prince  ?  Provided  always  that  it  be 
not  to  your  displeasure,  tell  me  what  I  am  to  under- 
stand by  the  disclaimer  which,  broadly  interpreted, 
leaves  you  either  a  Jew  or  a  Christian  ? " 


CHAPTER  m 

THE   NEW  FAITH   PROCLAIMED 

THE  question  came  earlier  than  the  Prince  expected, 
and  in  different  form.  Those  in  position  to  observe 
his  face  saw  it  turn  a  trifle  pale,  and  he  hesitated,  and 
glanced  around  uneasily,  as  though  not  altogether  as- 
sured of  his  footing.  This  might  have  been  by-play ; 
if  so,  it  was  successful;  every  countenance  not  sym- 
pathetic was  serious. 

"  Your  Majesty's  inquiry  must  be  for  information. 
I  am  too  humble  for  an  unfriendly  design  on  the  part 
of  one  so  exalted  as  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople. 
It  might  be  otherwise  if  I  represented  a  church,  a  de- 
nomination, or  a  recognized  religion  ;  as  it  is,  my 
faith  is  my  own." 

"But  bethink  thee,  Prince,  thou  mayst  have  the 
truth — the  very  God's  truth,"  Constantine  interposed, 
with  kindly  intent.  "  We  all  know  thy  country  hath 
been  the  cradle  of  divine  ideas.  So,  speak,  and  fear 
not." 

The  glance  the  Emperor  received  was  winsomely 
grateful. 

"  Indeed,  Your  Majesty,  indeed  I  have  need  of  good 
countenance.  The  question  put  me  has  lured  more 
men  to  bloody  graves  than  fire,  sword  and  wave  to- 
gether. And  then  why  I  believe  as  I  believe  demands 
time  in  excess  of  what  we  have ;  and  I  am  the  bolder 
in  this  because  in  limiting  me  Your  Majesty  limits 


892 

yourself.  So  I  will  now  no  more  than  define  my 
Faith.  But  first,  it  does  not  follow  from  my  dis- 
claimer that  I  can  only  be  a  Jew  or  a  Christian ;  for 
as  air  is  a  vehicle  for  a  multitude  of  subtleties  in  light, 
faith  in  like  manner  accommodates  a  multitude  of 
opinions." 

While  speaking,  the  Prince's  voice  gradually  gained 
strength;  his  color  returned,  and  his  eyes  enlarged 
and  shone  with  strange  light.  Now  his  right  hand 
arose,  the  fingers  all  closed  except  the  first  one,  and 
it  was  long  and  thin,  and  he  waved  it  overhead,  like 
a  conjuring  wand.  If  the  concourse  had  been  un- 
willing to  hear  him,  they  could  not  have  turned 
away. 

"I  am  not  a  Hindoo,  my  Lord;  because  I  cannot 
believe  men  can  make  their  own  gods." 

The  Father  Confessor  to  the  Emperor,  at  the  left  of 
the  dais  in  a  stole  of  gold  and  crimson  cloth,  smiled 
broadly. 

"  I  am  not  a  Buddhist,"  the  Prince  continued;  "be- 
cause I  cannot  believe  the  soul  goes  to  nothingness 
after  death." 

The  Father  Confessor  clapped  his  hands. 

"I  am  not  a  Confucian;  because  I  cannot  reduce 
religion  to  philosophy  or  elevate  philosophy  into  re- 
ligion." 

The  blood  of  the  audience  began  to  warm. 

"  I  am  not  a  Jew;  because  I  believe  God  loves  all 
peoples  alike,  or  if  he  makes  distinctions,  it  is  for 
righteousness'  sake." 

Here  the  chamber  rang  with  clapping. 

"I  am  not  an  Islamite;  because  when  I  raise  my 
eyes  to  Heaven,  I  cannot  tolerate  sight  of  a  man 
standing  between  me  and  God — no,  my  Lord,  not 
though  he  be  a  Prophet." 


The  hit  was  palpable,  and  from  hate  of  the  old 
enemy,  the  whole  assemblage  broke  into  an  uproar 
of  acclamation.  Only  the  Emperor  kept  his  gravity. 
Leaning  heavily  on  the  golden  cone  at  the  right  of 
his  chair,  his  chin  depressed,  his  eyes  staring,  scarcely 
breathing,  he  waited,  knowing,  that  having  gone  so 
far,  there  was  before  the  speaker  an  unavoidable  cli- 
max ;  and  seeing  it  in  his  face,  and  coming,  he  pres- 
ently aroused,  and  motioned  for  silence. 

"I  am  not"— 

The  Prince  stopped,  but  when  the  hush  was  deepest 
went  on — "  I  am  not  a  Christian;  because — because  I 
believe— God  is  God." 

The  Father  Confessor's  hands  were  ready  to  clap, 
but  they  stayed  so;  the  same  spell  took  hold  of  the 
bystanders,  except  that  they  looked  at  the  Emperor, 
and  he  alone  seemed  to  comprehend  the  concluding 
phrase.  He  settled  back  easily  in  his  seat,  saying, 
"  Thy  Faith  then  is " 

"God!" 

The  monosyllable  was  the  Prince's. 

And  with  clear  sight  of  the  many  things  reprobated 
— Images,  Saints,  the  Canonized,  even  the  worship  of 
Christ  and  the  Holy  Mother — with  clear  sight  also  of 
the  wisdom  which  in  that  presence  bade  the  guest  stop 
with  the  mighty  name — at  the  same  time  more  curious 
than  ever  to  hear  in  full  discourse  the  man  who  could 
reduce  religion  to  a  single  word  and  leave  it  compre- 
hensible, Constantine  drew  a  breath  of  relief,  and  said, 
smiling,  ' '  Of  a  surety,  O  Prince,  there  was  never  a 
Faith  which,  with  such  appearance  of  simplicity  in 
definition,  is  capable  of  such  infinity  of  meaning.  I 
am  full  of  questions;  and  these  listening,  my  lords 
of  the  court,  are  doubtless  hi  a  similar  mood.  What 
sayest  thou,  O  my  most  orthodox  Confessor  ? " 


394 

The  Father  bowed  until  the  hem  of  his  blazing  stole 
overlaid  the  floor. 

"  Your  Majesty,  we  too  are  believers  in  God ;  but  we 
also  believe  in  much  beside ;  so,  if  but  for  comparison 
of  creeds,  which  is  never  unprofitable  while  in  good 
nature,  I  should  like  to  hear  the  noble  and  f  air  speak- 
ing guest  further." 

"And  you,  my  Lords  ? " 

The  throng  around  answered,  "  Yes,  yes! " 

"We  will  have  it  so  then.  Look,  good  Logothete, 
for  the  nearest  day  unoccupied. " 

A  handsome  man  of  middle  age  approached  the  dais, 
and  opening  a  broad-backed  book,  evidently  the  record 
of  the  royal  appointments,  turned  a  number  of  leaves, 
and  replied:  "Your  Majesty,  two  weeks  from  to- 
morrow." 

"  Note  the  same  set  aside  for  the  Prince  of  India. — 
Dost  hear,  Prince  ? " 

The  latter  lowered  his  face  the  better  to  conceal  his 
pleasure. 

"All  days  are  alike  to  me,"  he  answered. 

"  In  this  our  palace,  then — two  weeks  from  to-mor- 
row at  the  hour  of  noon.  And  now  " — the  rustle  and 
general  movement  of  the  courtiers  was  instantly 
stayed — "and  now,  Prince,  didst  thou  not  speak  of 
exercising  the  functions  of  a  king  at  home '(  Thy 
capital  must  be  in  India,  but  where,  pray  ?  And  how 
callest  thou  thyself  ?  And  why  is  this  city  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  attracted  thy  wandering  feet  ?  It  is  not 
every  king  so  his  own  master  as  to  turn  traveller,  and 
go  about  making  study  of  the  world ;  although,  I  ad- 
mit, it  would  be  better  could  every  king  do  so." 

These  questions  were  rapidly  put,  but  as  the  Prince 
was  prepared  for  them,  he  responded  pleasantly : 

"In  answering  the  questions  Your  Majesty  now 


395 

honors  me  with,  I  am  aware  how  serious  the  mistake 
would  be  did  I  think  of  your  curiosity  alone.  A  most 
excellent  quality  in  a  great  man  is  patience.  Alas, 
that  it  should  be  one  of  the  most  abused!  .  .  . 
Among  the  oldest  of  Hindoo  titles  is  Rajah.  It  means 
King  rather  than  Prince,  and  I  was  born  to  it.  Your 
Majesty  may  have  heard  of  Oodeypoor,  the  bosom  jew- 
el of  Rajpootana,  the  white  rose  just  bloomed  of  Indian 
cities.  At  the  foot  of  a  spur  of  the  Arawalli  moun- 
tains, a  river  rises,  and  on  its  right  bank  reposes  the 
city;  from  which,  southeast  a  little  way,  a  lake  lies 
outspread,  like  a  mirror  fallen  face  upward.  And 
around  the  lake  are  hills,  tall  and  broken  as  these  of 
the  Bosphorus ;  and  seen  from  the  water  the  hills  are 
masses  of  ivy  and  emerald  woods  thickly  sprinkled 
with  old  fortresses  and  temples,  and  seven-roofed  red 
pagodas,  each  the  home  of  a  great  gold-decked  Buddha, 
with  lesser  Buddhas  in  family.  And  in  the  lake  are 
islands  all  palaces  springing  from  the  water  line  in 
open  arches,  and  sculptured  walls,  and  towered  gates ; 
and  of  still  days  their  wondrous  cunning  in  the  air  is 
renewed  afresh  in  the  waveless  depths  below  them. 
If  they  are  glorious  then,  what  are  they  when  recon- 
structed for  festal  nights  in  shining  lamps  ?  For  be 
it  said,  my  Lord,  if  a  stranger  in  the  walls  of  this  centre 
of  empire  may  speak  a  word  which  has  the  faintest 
savor  of  criticism,  the  Indian  genius  analyzed  beauty 
before  there  was  a  West,  and  taking  suggestions  from 
spark  and  dewdrop,  applied  them  to  architecture. 
Smile  not,  I  pray,  for  you  may  see  the  one  in  the 
lamp  multiplied  for  outline  traceries,  and  the  other  in 
the  fountain,  the  cascade,  and  the  limpid  margin  at 
the  base  of  walls.  Or  if  still  you  think  me  exag- 
gerating, is  not  the  offence  one  to  be  lightly  forgiven 
where  the  offender  is  telling  of  his  birthplace  ?  In  one 


396 

of  the  palaces  of  that  Lake  of  Palaces  I  was  born,  the 
oldest  son  of  the  Rajah  of  Meywar,  Oodeypoor  his 
capital.  In  these  words,  which  I  hope  may  be  kindly 
judged,  Your  Majesty  will  find  answers  to  one,  if  not 
two  of  the  questions  you  were  pleased  to  ask  me 

Why  I  am  here  ?  And  why  making  study  of 

the  world  ?  Will  Your  Majesty  pardon  my  boldness, 
if  I  suggest  that  a  reply  to  those  inquiries  would  be 
better  at  the  audience  set  for  me  next  ?  I  fear  it  is 
too  long  for  telling  now." 

"  Be  it  so,"  said  Constantino,  "  yet  a  hint  of  it  may 
not  be  amiss.  It  may  set  us  to  thinking ;  and,  Prince, 
a  mind  prepared  for  an  idea  is  like  ground  broken 
and  harrowed  for  seed." 

The  Prince  hesitated. 

"Your  Majesty — my  Lord" — he  then  said  firmly, 
' '  the  most  sorrowful  of  men  are  those  with  concep- 
tions too  great  for  them,  and  which  they  must  carry 
about  with  nothing  better  to  sustain  their  sinking 
spirits  than  a  poor  hope  of  having  them  one  day 
adopted;  for  until  that  day  they  are  like  a  porter 
overladen  and  going  from  house  to  house  unknowing 
the  name  of  the  owner  of  his  burden  or  where  to  look 
for  him.  I  am  such  an  unfortunate.  .  .  .  Oodey- 
poor, you  must  understand,  is  more  than  comely  to  the 
eye  of  a  native ;  it  is  a  city  where  all  religions  are  toler- 
ated. The  Taing,  the  Brahman,  the  Hindoo,  the  Mo- 
hammedan, the  Buddhist  live  together  there,  protected 
and  in  peace,  with  their  worship  and  houses  of  wor- 
ship ;  nor  is  there  any  shutting  of  mouths,  because  con- 
troversy long  since  attained  finality  amongst  them ;  or 
perhaps  it  were  better  saying,  because  opinions  there 
have  now  their  recognized  grooves,  and  run  in  them 
from  generation  to  generation — opinions  to  which 
men  are  born  as  to  their  property,  only  without  right 


397 

of  change  or  modification;  neither  can  they  break 
away  from  them.  There  is  no  excuse  if  an  intelligent 
man  in  such  a  situation  does  not  comprehend  all  the 
religions  thus  in  daily  practice ;  or  if  one  does  com- 
prehend them  he  should  not  natter  himself  possessed 
of  any  superior  intellect.  .  .  .  The  Rajah,  my 
father,  died,  and  I  mounted  his  silver  throne,  and  for 
ten  years  administered  justice  in  the  Hall  of  Durbars 
to  which  he  had  been  used,  he  and  his  father's  father, 
Children  of  the  Sun,  most  pure  of  blood.  By  that 
time  I  was  of  mature  mind,  and  having  given  myself 
up  to  study,  came  to  believe  there  is  but  one  doctrine 
— principle — call  it  what  you  will,  my  Lord — but  one 
of  heavenly  origin — one  primarily  comprehensible  by 
all — too  simple  indeed  to  satisfy  the  egotism  of  men; 
wherefore,  without  rejecting,  they  converted  it  into  a 
foundation,  and  built  upon  it  each  according  to  his 
vanity,  until,  in  course  of  ages,  the  foundation  was 
overlaid  with  systems  of  belief,  childish,  unnatural, 
ridiculous,  indecent,  or  else  too  complicated  for  com- 
mon understanding  " — 

"  This  principle — what  is  it,  Prince  ?"  Constantino 
asked  nervously. 

"  Your  Majesty,  I  have  already  once  named  it." 

"Mean  you  God?" 

"And  now,  my  Lord,  thou  hast  pronounced  it." 

The  stillness  in  the  chamber  was  very  deep.  Every 
man  seemed  to  be  asking,  what  next  ? 

"One  day,  Your  Majesty — it  was  in  my  tenth 
year  of  government — a  function  was  held  in  a  tent 
erected  for  the  purpose — a  shamiana  vastly  largei 
than  any  hall.  I  went  up  to  it  in  state,  passing 
through  lines  of  elephants,  an  hundred  on  either 
hand,  covered  with  cloth  of  gold  and  with  houdahs 
of  yellow  silk  roofed  with  the  glory  of  peacocks. 


Behind  the  mighty  brutes  soldiery  blotted  out  the 
landscape,  and  the  air  between  them  and  the  sky  was 
a  tawny  cloud  of  flaunting  yak-tails ;  nor  had  one  use 
for  ears,  so  was  he  deafened  by  beat  of  drums  and 
blowing  of  brazen  horns  twice  a  tall  man's  height.  I 
sat  on  a  throne  of  silver  and  gold,  all  my  ministers 
present.  My  brother  entered,  he  the  next  entitled. 
Halfway  down  the  aisle  of  chiefs  I  met  him,  and 
then  led  him  to  my  seat,  and  saluted  him  Rajah  of 
Meywar.  Your  Majesty,  so  I  parted  with  crown  and 
title — laid  them  down  voluntarily  to  search  the  world 
for  men  in  power  in  love  with  God  enough  to  accept 
him  as  their  sum  of  faith.  Behold  why  I  travel 
making  the  earth  a  study!  Behold  why  I  am  in 
Constantinople ! " 

Constantine  was  impressed. 

"Where  hast  thou  been?"  he  at  length  asked — 
"  where  before  coming  here  ? " 

"  It  were  easier  did  Your  Majesty  ask  where  I  have 
not  been.  For  then  I  could  answer,  Everywhere, 
except  Rome." 

"  Dost  thou  impugn  our  devotion  to  God  ? " 

"Not  so,  not  so,  my  Lord!  I  am  seeking  to  know 
the  degree  of  your  love  of  Him." 

"How,  Prince?" 

"By  a  test." 

"What  test?" 

No  man  listening  could  have  said  what  mood  the 
Emperor  was  in ;  yet  the  guest  replied  with  an  appear- 
ance of  rising  courage :  "A  trial,  to  find  all  the  other 
things  entering  into  Faith  which  Your  Majesty  and 
Your  Majesty's  lords  and  subjects  are  willing  to  lay 
down  for  God's  sake. " 

With  a  peremptory  gesture  Constantine  silenced 
the  stir  and  rustle  in  the  chamber. 


"It  is  right  boldly  put,"  he  said. 

"But  none  the  less  respectfully.  My  Lord,  I  am 
striving  to  be  understood." 

"You  speak  of  a  trial.     To  what  end  ? " 

"  One  Article  of  Faith,  the  all-essential  of  Universal 
Brotherhood  in  Religion." 

' '  A  magnificent  conception !    But  is  it  practicable  ? " 

Fortunately  or  unfortunately  for  the  Prince,  an 
officer  that  moment  made  way  through  the  courtiers, 
and  whispered  to  the  Dean,  who  at  once  addressed 
himself  to  the  Emperor. 

"  I  pray  pardon,  but  it  pleased  Your  Majesty  to  bid 
me  notify  you  when  it  is  tune  to  make  ready  for  the 
Mystery  to-night.  The  hour  is  come ;  besides  which 
a  messenger  from  Scholarius  waits  for  an  interview." 

Constantine  arose. 

"  Thanks,  worthy  Dean,"  he  said ;  "  we  will  not  de- 
tain the  messenger.  The  audience  is  dismissed." 

Then  descending  from  the  dais,  he  gave  his  hand  to 
the  Prince.  ' '  I  see  the  idea  you  have  in  mind,  and 
it  is  worthy  the  bravest  effort.  I  shall  look  forward 
to  the  next  audience  with  concern.  Forget  not  that 
the  guestship  continues.  My  steward  will  take  you 
in  charge.  Farewell." 

The  Prince,  sinking  to  his  knees,  kissed  the  offered 
hand,  whereupon  the  Emperor  said  as  if  just  re- 
minded: "Was  not  your  daughter  with  my  kins- 
woman in  the  White  Castle  ? " 

"Your  Majesty,  the  Princess  on  that  occasion  most 
graciously  consented  to  accept  my  daughter  as  her 
attendant." 

"Were  she  to  continue  in  the  same  attendance, 
Prince,  we  might  hope  to  have  her  at  court  some  day." 

"I  lay  many  thanks  at  Your  Majesty's  feet.  She 
is  most  honored  by  the  suggestion." 


400 

Constantine  in  lead  of  his  officers  then  passed  out, 
while,  in  care  of  the  steward,  the  Prince  was  con- 
ducted to  the  reception  room,  and  served  with  refresh- 
ments. Afterwhile  through  the  windows  he  heheld 
the  day  expiring,  and  the  first  audience  finished,  and 
the  second  appointed,  he  was  free  to  think  of  the 
approaching  Mystery. 

Be  it  said  now  he  was  easy  in  feeling — satisfied 
with  the  management  of  his  cause — satisfied  with  the 
impression  he  had  made  on  the  Emperor  and  the 
court  as  well.  Had  not  the  latter  applauded  and 
voted  to  hear  him  again  ?  When  taken  with  the  care 
habitually  observed  by  leading  personages  in  audi- 
ences formal  as  that  just  passed,  how  broadly  sympa- 
thetic the  expressions  of  the  monarch  had  been. 

In  great  cheerfulness  the  Prince  ate  and  drank,  and 
even  occupied  the  wine-colored  leisure  conning  an 
argument  for  the  occasion  in  prospect — noon,  next 
day  two  weeks!  And  more  clearly  than  ever  his 
scheme  seemed  good.  Could  he  carry  it  through — 
could  he  succeed — the  good  would  be  recognized — 
never  a  doubt  of  that.  If  men  were  sometimes  blind, 
God  was  always  just. 

In  thought  he  sped  forward  of  the  coming  appoint- 
ment, and  saw  himself  not  only  the  apostle  of  the 
reform,  but  the  chosen  agent,  the  accredited  go- 
between  of  Constantine  and  the  young  Mahommed. 
He  remembered  the  points  of  negotiation  between 
them.  He  would  not  require  the  Turk  to  yield  the 
prophetic  character  of  Mahomet ;  neither  should  the 
Byzantine's  faith  in  Christ  suffer  curtailment;  he 
would  ask  them,  however,  to  agree  to  a  new  relation 
between  Mahomet  and  Christ  on  the  one  side  and  God 
on  the  other — that,  namely,  long  conceded,  as  having 
existed  between  God  and  Elijah.  And  then,  an  article 


401 

of  the  utmost  materiality,  the  very  soul  of  the  recast 
religion,  he  would  insist  that  they  obligate  themselves 
to  worship  God  alone,  worship  being  His  exclusive 
prerogative,  and  that  this  condition  of  exclusive  wor- 
ship be  prescribed  the  only  test  of  fraternity  in  re- 
ligion ;  all  other  worship  to  be  punishable  as  heresy. 
Nor  stopped  he  with  Mahommed  and  Constantino; 
he  doubted  not  bringing  the  Rabbis  to  such  a  treaty. 
How  almost  identical  it  was  with  the  Judaism  of 
Moses.  The  Bishop  of  Rome  might  protest.  What 
matter  ?  Romanism  segregated  must  die.  And  so  the 
isms  of  the  Brahman  and  the  Hindoo,  so  the  Buddhist, 
the  Confucian,  the  Mencian — they  would  all  perish 
under  the  hammering  of  the  union.  Then,  too,  Time 
would  make  the  work  perfect,  and  gradually  wear 
Christ  and  Mahomet  out  of  mind — he  and  Time  to- 
gether. What  if  the  task  did  take  ages  ?  He  had 
an  advantage  over  other  reformers — he  could  keep 
his  reform  in  motion — he  could  guide  and  direct  it — 
he  could  promise  himself  life  to  see  it  in  full  accept- 
ance. In  the  exuberance  of  triumphant  feeling,  he 
actually  rejoiced  in  his  doom,  and  for  the  moment 
imagined  it  more  than  a  divine  mercy. 
36 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    PANNTCHIDES 

AN  invitation  from  the  Emperor  to  remain  and 
yiew  the  procession  marching  up  the  heights  of 
Blacherne  had  been  of  itself  a  compliment;  but  the 
erection  of  a  stand  for  the  Prince  turned  the  compli- 
ment into  a  personal  honor.  To  say  truth,  however, 
he  really  desired  to  see  the  Pannychides,  or  in  plain 
parlance,  the  Vigils.  He  had  often  heard  of  them  as 
of  prodigious  effect  upon  the  participants.  Latterly 
they  had  fallen  into  neglect;  and  knowing  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  revive  a  dying  custom,  he  imagined  the 
spectacle  would  be  poor  and  soon  over.  While  re- 
flecting on  it,  he  looked  out  of  the  window  and  was 
surprised  to  see  the  night  falling.  He  yielded  then  to 
restlessness,  until  suddenly  an  idea  arose  and  absorbed 

him. 

Suppose  the  Emperor  won  to  his  scheme;  was  its 
success  assured  ?  So  used  was  he  to  thinking  of  the 
power  of  kings  and  emperors  as  the  sole  essential  to 
the  things  he  proposed  that  in  this  instance  he  had 
failed  to  concede  importance  to  the  Church  ;  and 
probably  he  would  have  gone  on  in  the  delusion  but 
for  the  Mysteries  which  were  now  to  pass  before  him. 
They  forced  him  to  think  of  the  power  religious  organ- 
izations exercise  over  men. 

And  this  Church — this  old  Byzantine  Church !  Ay, 
truly !  The  Byzantine  conscience  was  under  its  direc' 


403 

tion ;  it  was  the  Father  Confessor  of  the  Empire ;  its 
voice  in  the  common  ear  was  the  voice  of  God.  To 
cast  Christ  out  of  its  system  would  be  like  wrenching 
a  man's  heart  out  of  his  body.  It  was  here  and  there 
— everywhere  in  fact — in  signs,  trophies,  monuments 
— in  crosses  and  images — in  monasteries,  convents, 
houses  to  the  Saints,  houses  to  the  Mother.  What 
could  the  Emperor  do,  if  it  were  obstinate  and  defi- 
ant ?  The  night  beheld  through  the  window  crept 
into  the  Wanderer's  heart,  and  threatened  to  put  out 
the  light  kindled  there  by  the  new-born  hope  with 
which  he  had  come  from  the  audience. 

"The  Church,  the  Church !  It  is  the  enemy  I  have 
to  fear,"  he  kept  muttering  in  dismal  repetition,  real- 
izing, for  the  first  time,  the  magnitude  of  the  cam- 
paign before  him.  With  a  wisdom  in  wickedness 
which  none  of  his  successors  in  design  have  shown, 
he  saw  the  Christian  idea  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
unassailable  except  a  substitute  satisfactory  to  its  pro- 
fessors could  be  found.  Was  God  a  sufficient  substi- 
tute ?  Perhaps — and  he  turned  cold  with  the  reflection 
— the  Pannychides  were  bringing  him  an  answer.  It 
was  an  ecclesiastical  affair,  literally  a  meeting  of 
Churchmen  en  masse.  Where — when — how  could 
the  Church  present  itself  to  any  man  more  an  actual- 
ity in  the  flesh  ?  Perhaps — and  a  chill  set  his  very 
crown  to  crawling — perhaps  the  opportunity  to  study 
the  spectacle  was  more  a  mercy  of  God  than  a  favor 
of  Constaiitine. 

To  his  great  relief,  at  length  the  officer  who  had 
escorted  him  from  the  Grand  Gate  came  into  the 
room. 

"  I  am  to  have  the  honor,"  he  said,  cheerfully,  "of 
conducting  you  to  the  stand  His  Majesty  has  prepared 
that  you  may  at  ease  behold  the  Mysteries  appointed 


404 

for  the  night.  The  head  of  the  procession  is  reported 
appearing.  If  it  please  you,  Prince  of  India,  we  will 
set  out." 

"I  am  ready." 

The  position  chosen  for  the  Prince  was  on  the  right 
bank  of  a  cut  through  which  the  road  passed  on  its 
ascent  from  the  arched  gateway  by  the  Chapel  to  the 
third  terrace,  and  he  was  borne  thither  in  his  sedan. 

Upon  alighting,  he  found  himself  on  a  platform 
covered  by  a  canopy,  carpeted  and  furnished  with 
one  chair  comfortably  cushioned.  At  the  right  of  the 
chair  there  was  a  pyramid  of  coals  glowing  in  a  bra- 
sier,  and  lest  that  might  not  be  a  sufficient  provision 
against  the  damps  of  the  hours,  a  great  cloak  was 
near  at  hand.  In  front  of  the  platform  he  observed 
a  pole  securely  planted  and  bearing  a  basket  of  inflam- 
mables ready  for  conversion  into  a  torch.  In  short, 
everything  needful  to  his  well-being,  including  wine 
and  water  on  a  small  tripod,  was  within  reach. 

Before  finally  seating  himself  the  Prince  stepped 
out  to  the  brow  of  the  terrace,  whence  he  noticed  the 
Chapel  below  him  in  the  denser  darkness  of  the  trees 
about  it  like  a  pool.  The  gleam  of  armor  on  the  area 
by  the  Grand  Gate  struck  him  with  sinister  effect. 
Flowers  saluted  him  with  perfume,  albeit  he  could 
not  see  them.  Not  less  welcome  was  the  low  music 
with  which  the  brook  cheered  itself  while  dancing 
down  to  the  harbor.  Besides  a  cresset  burning  on 
the  landing  outside  the  Port  entrance,  two  other 
lights  were  visible ;  one  on  the  Pharos,  the  other  on 
the  great  Galata  tower,  looking  in  the  distance  like 
large  stars.  With  these  exceptions,  the  valley  and 
the  hill  opposite  Blacherne,  and  the  wide-reaching 
Metropolis  beyond  them,  were  to  appearances  a 
blacker  cloud  dropped  from  the  clouded  sky. 


405 

A  curious  sound  now  came  to  him  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  city.  Was  it  a  rising  wind  ?  Or  a  muffled 
roll  from  the  sea  ?  While  wondering,  some  one  be- 
hind him  muttered  : 

"  They  are  coming." 

The  voice  was  sepulchral  and  harsh,  and  the  Prince 
turned  quickly  to  the  speaker,  who  said  : 

"I  am  Father  Theophilus,  appointed  thy  guide. 
They  are  coming." 

The  Prince  shivered  slightly.  The  noise  beyond 
the  valley  arose  more  distinctly. 

"Are  they  singing  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Chanting,"  the  other  answered. 

"  Why  do  they  chant  ?" 

"  Knowest  thou  our  Scriptures  ?  " 

The  Wanderer  quieted  a  disdainful  impulse,  and 
answered : 

"I  have  read  them." 

The  Father  continued : 

' '  Presently  thou  wilt  hear  the  words  of  Job :  '  Oh, 
that  thou  wouldst  hide  me  in  the  grave,  that  thou 
wouldst  keep  me  in  secret,  until  thy  wrath  be  past,  that 
thou  wouldst  appoint  me  a  set  time  and  remember  me. ' " 

The  Prince  was  startled.  Why  was  one  in  speech 
so  like  a  ghost  selected  his  companion  ?  And  that 
verse,  of  all  to  him  most  afflicting,  and  which  in 
hours  of  despair  he  had  repeated  until  his  very  spirit 
had  become  colored  with  its  reproachful  plaint — who 
put  it  in  the  man's  mouth  ? 

The  chant  came  nearer.  Of  melody  it  had  nothing; 
nor  did  those  engaged  in  it  appear  in  the  slightest  at- 
tentive to  time.  Yet  it  brought  relief  to  the  Prince, 
willing  as  he  was  to  admit  he  had  never  heard  any- 
thing similar — anything  so  sorrowful,  so  like  the  wail 
of  the  damned  in  multitude.  And  rueful  as  the  strain 


406 

was,  it  helped  him  assign  the  pageant  a  near  distance, 
a  middle  distance,  and  then  interminability. 

"There  appear  to  be  a  great  many  of  them,"  he 
remarked  to  the  Father. 

"  More  than  ever  before  in  the  observance,"  was  the 
reply. 

"Is  there  a  reason  for  it  ? " 

"Our  dissensions." 

The  Father  did  not  see  the  pleased  expression  of  his 
auditor's  face,  but  proceeded:  "Yes,  our  dissensions. 
They  multiply.  At  first  the  jar  was  between  the 
Church  and  the  throne ;  now  it  is  the  Church  against 
the  Church — a  Roman  party  and  a  Greek  party.  One 
man  among  us  has  concentrated  in  himself  the  learn- 
ing and  devotion  of  the  Christian  East.  You  will  see 
him  directly,  George  Scholarius.  By  visions,  like 
those  in  which  the  old  prophets  received  the  counsel 
of  God,  he  was  instructed  to  revive  the  Panny chides. 
His  messengers  have  gone  hither  and  thither,  to  the 
monasteries,  the  convents,  and  the  eremitic  colonies 
wherever  accessible.  The  greater  the  presence,  he 
says,  the  greater  the  influence." 

"Scholarius  is  a  wise  man,"  the  Prince  said,  diplo- 
matically. 

"His  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Prophets,"  the  Father 
answered. 

"  Is  he  the  Patriarch  ?" 

"  No,  the  Patriarch  is  of  the  Roman  party — Scho- 
larius of  the  Greek." 

"  And  Constantine  ? " 

"A  good  king,  truly,  but,  alas!  he  is  cumbered  with 
care  of  the  State." 

' '  Yes,  yes, "  said  the  Prince.  ' '  And  the  care  leads  to 
neglect  of  his  soul.  Kings  are  sometimes  to  be  pitied. 
But  there  is  then  a  special  object  in  the  Vigils  ? " 


407 

"  The  Vigils  to-night  are  for  the  restoration  of  the 
unities  once  more,  that  the  Church  may  find  peace  and 
the  State  its  power  and  glory  again.  God  is  in  the 
habit  of  taking  care  of  His  own." 

"Thank  you,  Father,  I  see  the  difference.  Schola- 
rius  would  intrust  the  State  to  the  Holy  Virgin;  but 
Constantine,  with  a  worldlier  inspiration,  adheres  to 
the  craft  held  by  Kings  immemorially.  The  object 
of  the  Vigils  is  to  bring  the  Emperor  to  abandon  his 
policy  and  defer  to  Scholarius  ? " 

"The  Emperor  assists  in  the  Mystery,"  the  Father 
answered,  vaguely. 

The  procession  meantime  came  on,  and  when  its 
head  appeared  in  front  of  the  Grand  Gate  three  trum- 
peters blew  a  flourish  which  called  the  guards  into 
line.  A  monk  advanced  and  held  parley  with  an 
officer ;  after  which  he  was  given  a  lighted  torch,  and 
passed  under  the  portal  in  lead  of  the  multitude.  The 
trumpeters  continued  plying  their  horns,  marking  the 
slow  ascent. 

"Were  this  an  army,"  said  Father  Theophilus,  "it 
would  not  be  so  laborious;  but,  alas!  the  going  of 
youth  is  nowhere  so  rapid  as  in  a  cloister ;  nor  is  age 
anywhere  so  feeble.  Ten  years  kneeling  on  a  stony 
floor  in  a  damp  cell  brings  the  anchorite  to  forget  he 
ever  walked  with  ease." 

The  Prince  scarcely  heard  him;  he  was  interested 
in  the  little  to  be  seen  crossing  the  area  below — a 
column  four  abreast,  broken  into  unequal  divisions, 
each  division  with  a  leader,  who,  at  the  gate,  received 
a  torch.  Occasionally  a  square  banner  on  a  crosstick 
appeared — occasionally  a  section  in  light-colored  gar- 
ments ;  more  frequently  a  succession  of  heads  without 
covering  of  any  kind ;  otherwise  the  train  was  monoto- 
nously rueful,  and  in  its  slow  movement  out  of  the 


408 

darkness  reminded  the  spectator  on  the  height  of  a 
serpent  crawling  endlessly  from  an  underground  den. 
Af  terwhile  the  dim  white  of  the  pavement  was  obscured 
hy  masses  stationary  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  col- 
umn; these  were  the  people  stopping  there  because 
for  them  there  was  no  further  pursuit  of  the  spectral 
parade. 

The  horns  gave  sonorous  notice  of  the  progress  dur- 
ing the  ascent.  Now  they  were  passing  along  the  first 
terrace ;  still  the  divisions  were  incessant  down  by  the 
gate — still  the  chanting  continued,  a  dismal  dissonance 
in  the  distance,  a  horrible  discord  near  by.  If  it  be 
true  that  the  human  voice  is  music's  aptest  instru- 
ment, it  is  also  true  that  nothing  vocalized  in  naturo 
can  excel  it  in  the  expression  of  diabolism. 

Suddenly  the  first  torch  gleamed  on  the  second  ter- 
race scarce  an  hundred  yards  from  the  Chapel. 

"See  him  now — there,  behind  the  trumpeters — 
Scholarius ! "  said  Father  Theophilus,  with  a  sem- 
blance of  animation. 

"He  with  the  torch?" 

"Ay! — And  he  might  throw  the  torch  away,  and 
still  be  the  light  of  the  Church." 

The  remark  did  not  escape  the  Prince.  The  man 
who  could  so  impress  himself  upon  a  member  of  the 
court  must  be  a  power  with  his  brethren  of  the  gown 
generally.  Reflecting  thus,  the  discerning  visitor 
watched  the  figure  stalking  on  under  the  torch.  There 
are  men  who  are  causes  in  great  events,  sometimes  by 
superiority  of  nature,  sometimes  by  circumstances. 
What  if  this  were  one  of  them  ?  And  forthwith  the 
observer  ceased  fancying  the  mystical  looking  monk 
drawing  the  interminable  train  after  him  by  the  in- 
visible bonds  of  a  will  mightier  than  theirs  in  com' 
bination — the  fancy  became  a  fact. 


400 

"The  procession  will  not  stop  at  the  Chapel,"  the 
Father  said;  "but  keep  on  to  the  palace,  where  the 
Emperor  will  join  it.  If  my  Lord  cares  to  See  the  pas- 
sage distinctly,  I  will  fire  the  basket  here." 

"  Do  so,"  the  Prince  replied. 

The  flambeau  was  fired. 

It  shed  light  over  the  lower  terraces  right  and  left, 
and  brought  the  palace  in  the  upper  space  into  view 
from  the  base  of  the  forward  building  to  the  Tower  of 
Isaac ;  and  here,  close  by,  the  Chapel  with  all  its  ap- 
purtenances, paved  enclosure,  speeding  brook,  solemn 
cypresses,  and  the  wall  and  arched  gateway  at  the 
hither  side  stood  out  in  almost  daytime  clearness. 
The  road  in  the  cut  underfoot  must  bring  the  frocked 
host  near  enough  to  expose  its  spirit. 

The  bellowing  of  the  horns  frightened  the  birds  at 
/cost  in  the  melancholy  grove,  and  taking  wing,  they 
flew  blindly  about. 

Then  ensued  the  invasion  of  the  enclosure  in  front 
of  the  Chapel — Scholarius  next  the  musicians.  The 
Prince  saw  him  plainly ;  a  tall  man,  stoop-shouldered, 
angular  as  a  skeleton;  his  hood  thrown  back;  head 
tonsured;  the  whiteness  of  the  scalp  conspicuous  on 
account  of  the  band  of  black  hair  at  the  base ;  the  fea- 
tures high  and  thin,  cheeks  hollow,  temples  pinched. 
The  dark  brown  cassock,  leaving  an  attenuated  neck 
completely  exposed,  hung  from  his  frame  apparently 
much  too  large  for  it.  His  feet  disdained  sandals.  At 
the  brook  he  halted,  and  letting  the  crucifix  fall  from 
his  right  hand,  he  stooped  and  dipped  the  member 
thus  freed  into  the  water,  and  rising  flung  the  drops 
in  air.  Resuming  the  crucifix,  he  marched  on. 

It  cannot  be  said  there  was  admiration  in  the  steady 
gaze  with  which  the  Prince  kept  the  monk  in  eye ;  the 
attraction  was  stronger — he  was  looking  for  a  sign 

•7 


410 

from  him.  He  saw  the  tall,  nervous  figure  cross  the 
brook  with  a  faltering,  uncertain  step,  pass  the  re- 
mainder of  the  pavement,  the  torch  in  one  hand,  the 
holy  symbol  in  the  other;  then  it  disappeared  under 
the  arch  of  the  gate ;  and  when  it  had  come  through, 
the  sharp  espial  was  beforehand  with  it,  and  waiting. 
It  commenced  ascending  the  acute  grade — now  it  was 
in  the  cut — and  now,  just  below  the  Prince,  it  had  but 
to  look  up,  and  its  face  would  be  on  a  level  with  his 
feet.  At  exactly  the  right  moment,  Scholarius  did 
look  up,  and — stop. 

The  interchange  of  glances  between  the  men  was 
brief,  and  can  be  likened  to  nothing  so  aptly  as  sword 
blades  crossing  in  a  red  light. 

Possibly  the  monk,  trudging  on,  his  mind  intent  up- 
on something  which  was  part  of  a  scene  elsewhere,  or 
on  the  objects  and  results  of  the  solemnities  in  celebra- 
tion, as  yet  purely  speculative,  might  have  been  dis- 
agreeably surprised  at  discovering  himself  the  subject 
of  study  by  a  stranger  whose  dress  proclaimed  him  a 
foreigner ;  possibly  the  Prince's  stare,  which  we  have 
already  seen  was  at  tunes  powerfully  magnetic,  filled 
him  with  aversion  and  resentment;  certain  it  is  he 
raised  his  head,  showing  a  face  full  of  abhorrence, 
and  at  the  same  time  waved  the  crucifix  as  if  in 
exorcism. 

The  Prince  had  time  to  see  the  image  thus  presented 
was  of  silver  on  a  cross  of  ivory  wrought  to  wonder- 
ful realism.  The  face  was  dying,  not  dead  ;  there 
were  the  spikes  in  the  hands  and  feet,  the  rent  in  the 
side,  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  overhead  the  initials 
of  the  inscription:  This  is  the  King  of  the  Jews. 
There  was  the  worn,  buffeted,  bloodspent  body,  and 
the  lips  were  parted  so  it  was  easy  to  think  the  sufferer 
in  mid-utterance  of  one  of  the  exclamations  which  have 


411 

placed  his  Divinity  forever  beyond  successful  denial. 
The  swift  reversion  of  memory  excited  in  the  beholder 
might  have  been  succeeded  by  remorse,  but  for  the 
cry: 

"Thou  enemy  of  Jesus  Christ — a  vaunt!  " 
It  was  the  voice  of  Scholarius,  shrill  and  high ;  and 
before  the  Prince  could  recover  from  the  shock,  before 
he  could  make  answer,  or  think  of  answering,  the 
visionary  was  moving  on;  nor  did  he  again  look 
back. 

"  What  ails  thee,  Prince  ? " 

The  sepulchral  tone  of  Father  Theophilus  was  pow- 
erful over  the  benumbed  faculties  of  His  Majesty's 
guest;  and  he  answered  with  a  question: 

"  Is  not  thy  friend  Scholarius  a  great  preacher  ?" 
"  On  his  lips  the  truth  is  most  unctuous." 
"  It  must  be  so — it  must  be  so !  For  " — the  Prince's 
manner  was  as  if  he  were  settling  a  grave  altercation 
in  his  own  mind — "  for  never  did  a  man  offer  me  the 
Presence  so  vitalized  in  an  image.  I  am  not  yet  sure 
but  he  gave  me  to  see  the  Holy  Son  of  the  Immacu- 
late Mother  in  flesh  and  blood  exactly  as  when  they 
put  Hun  so  cruelly  to  death.  Or  can  it  be,  Father, 
that  the  effect  upon  me  was  in  greater  measure  due  to 
the  night,  the  celebration,  the  cloud  of  ministrants, 
the  serious  objects  of  the  Vigils  ? " 

The  answer  made  Father  Theophilus  happy  as  a 

man  of  his  turn  could  be — he  was  furnished  additional 

evidence  of  the  spiritual  force  of  Scholarius,  his  ideal. 

"No,"  he  answered,  " it  was  God  in  the  man." 

All  this  time  the  chanting  had  been  coming  nearer, 

and  now  the  grove  rang  with  it.     A  moment,  and  the 

head  of  the  first  division  must  present  itself  hi  front 

of  the  Chapel.    Could  the  Wanderer  have  elected  then 

whether  to  depart  or  stay,  the  Pannychides  would 


412 

have  had  no  further  assistance  from  him — so  badly 
had  the  rencounter  with  Scholarius  shaken  him.  Not 
that  he  was  afraid  in  the  vulgar  sense  of  the  term. 
Before  a  man  can  habitually  pray  for  death,  he  must 
be  long1  lost  to  fear.  If  we  can  imagine  conscience 
gone,  pride  of  achievement,  without  which  there  can 
be  no  mortification  or  shame  in  defeat,  may  yet  re- 
main with  him,  a  source  of  dread  and  weakness. 
The  chill  which  shook  Brutus  in  his  tent  the  evening 
before  Philippi  was  not  in  the  least  akin  to  terror.  So 
with  the  Prince  at  this  juncture.  There  to  measure 
the  hold  of  the  Christian  idea  upon  the  Church,  it 
seemed  Scholarius  had  brought  him  an  answer  which 
finished  his  interest  in  the  passing  Vigils.  In  brief,  the 
Eeformer's  interest  in  the  Mystery  was  past,  and  he 
wished  with  his  whole  soul  to  retreat  to  the  sedan, 
but  a  fascination  held  him  fast. 

"I  think  it  would  be  pleasanter  sitting,"  he  said, 
and  returned  to  the  platform. 

"  If  I  presume  to  take  the  chair,  Father,"  he  added, 
"  it  is  because  I  am  older  than  thou." 

Hardly  was  he  thus  at  ease  when  a  precentor,  fat, 
and  clad  in  a  long  gown,  stepped  out  of  the  grove 
to  the  clear  lighted  pavement  in  front  of  the  Chapel. 
His  shaven  head  was  thrown  back,  his  mouth  open  to 
its  fullest  stretch,  and  tossing  a  white  stick  energeti- 
cally up  and  down  in  the  air,  he  intoned  with  aw- 
ful distinctness:  "  The  waters  wear  the  stones.  Thou 
washest  away  the  things  which  grow  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  earth,  and  Thou  destroyest  the  hopes  of  man." 

The  Prince  covered  his  ears  with  his  hands. 

"Thou  likest  not  the  singing  ? "  Father  Theophilus 
asked,  and  continued:  "  I  admit  the  graces  have  little 
to  do  with  musical  practice  in  the  holy  houses  of  the 
Fathers." 


413 

But  he  for  whom  the  comfort  was  meant  made  no 
reply.  He  was  repeating  to  himself:  "Thou  pre- 
vailest  forever  against  him,  and  he  passeth." 

And  to  these  words  the  head  of  the  first  division 
strode  forward  into  the  light.  The  Prince  dropped 
his  hands  in  tune  to  hear  the  last  verse:  "But  his 
flesh  upon  him  shall  have  pain,  and  his  soul  within 
him  shall  mourn." 

For  whom  was  this  ?  Did  the  singers  know  the 
significancy  of  the  text  to  him  ?  The  answer  was 
from  God,  and  they  were  merely  messengers  bring- 
ing it.  He  rose  to  his  feet ;  in  his  rebellious  passion 
the  world  seemed  to  melt  and  swim  about  him.  He 
felt  a  longing  to  burn,  break,  destroy — to  strike  out 
and  kill.  When  he  came  to  himself,  Father  The- 
ophilus,  who  thought  him  merely  wonder  struck  by 
the  mass  of  monks  in  march,  was  saying  in  his  most 
rueful  tone:  "  Good  order  required  a  careful  arrange- 
ment of  the  procession;  for  though  the  participants 
are  pledged  to  godly  life,  yet  they  sometimes  put 
their  vows  aside  temporarily.  The  holiest  of  them 
have  pride  in  their  establishments,  and  are  often  too 
ready  to  resort  to  arms  of  the  flesh  to  assert  their 
privileges.  The  Fathers  of  the  Islands  have  long 
been  jealous  of  the  Fathers  of  the  city,  and  to  put 
them  together  would  be  a  signal  for  riot.  Accord- 
ingly there  are  three  grand  divisions  here — the  monks 
of  Constantinople,  those  of  the  Islands,  the  shores  of 
the  Bosphorus  and  the  three  seas,  and  finally  the 
recluses  and  hermits  from  whatever  quarter.  Lo! 
first  the  Fathers  of  the  Studium — saintly  men  as  thou 
wilt  see  anywhere." 

The  speech  was  unusually  long  for  the  Father;  a 
fortunate  circumstance  of  which  the  Prince  availed 
himself  to  recover  his  self-possession.  By  the  time 


414 

the  brethren  eulogized  were  moving  up  the  rift  at  his 
feet,  he  was  able  to  observe  them  calmly.  They 
were  in  long  gowns  of  heavy  gray  woollen  stuff,  with 
sleeves  widening  from  the  shoulders ;  their  cowls,  be- 
sides covering  head  and  visage,  fell  down  like  capes. 
Cleanly,  decent-looking  men,  they  marched  slowly 
and  hi  order,  their  hands  united  palm  to  palm  below 
their  chins.  The  precentor  failed  to  inspire  them 
with  his  fury  of  song. 

"  These  now  coming,"  Father  Theophilus  said  of 
the  second  fraternity,  "  are  conventuals  of  Petrion, 
who  have  their  house  looking  out  on  the  harbor  here. 
And  these, "  he  said  of  the  third,  ' '  are  of  the  Monastery 
of  Anargyres — a  very  ancient  society.  The  Emperor 
Michael,  surnamed  the  Paphlegonian,  died  in  one  of 
their  cells  in  1041.  Brotherhood  with  them  is  equiva- 
lent to  saintship." 

Af terwhile  a  somewhat  tumultuous  flock  appeared 
in  white  skirts  and  loose  yellow  cloaks,  their  hair  and 
beard  uncut  and  flying.  The  historian  apologized. 

"  Bear  with  them,"  he  said;  "they  are  mendicants 
from  the  retreats  of  Periblepte,  in  the  quarter  of 
Psammatica.  You  may  see  them  on  the  street  corners 
and  quays,  and  in  all  public  places,  sick,  blind,  lame 
and  covered  with  sores.  They  have  St.  Lazarus  for 
patron.  At  night  an  angel  visits  them  with  healing. 
They  refuse  to  believe  the  age  of  miracles  is  past. " 

The  city  monastics  were  a  great  host  carrying  ban- 
ners with  the  name  of  their  Brotherhoods  inscribed  in 
golden  letters ;  and  in  every  instance  the  Hegumen, 
or  Abbot,  preceded  his  fraternity  torch  in  hand. 

A  company  in  unrelieved  black  marched  across  the 
brook,  and  their  chanting  was  lugubrious  as  their 
garb. 

"Petra  sends  us  these  Fathers,"  said  Theophilus — 


415 

"  Petra  over  on  the  south  side.  They  sleep  all  day 
and  watch  at  night.  The  second  coming  they  say 
will  happen  in  the  night,  because  they  think  that  time 
most  favorable  for  the  trumpeting  herald  and  the 
splendor  of  the  manifestations." 

Half  an  hour  of  marching — men  in  gray  and  black 
and  yellow,  a  few  in  white — men  cowled — men  shorn 
and  unshorn — barefooted  men  and  men  in  sandals — a 
river  of  men  in  all  moods,  except  jovial  and  happy, 
toiling  by  the  observing  stand,  seldom  an  upturned 
face,  spectral,  morose,  laden  body  and  mind — young 
and  old  looking  as  if  just  awakened  after  ages  of 
entombment; — a  half  hour  of  dismal  chanting  the 
one  chapter  from  the  book  of  the  man  in  the  land  of 
Uz,  of  all  utterances  the  most  dismal; — a  half  hour 
of  waiting  by  the  Prince  for  one  kindly  sign,  without 
discovering  it — a  half  hour,  in  which,  if  the  compari- 
son be  not  too  strong,  he  was  like  a  soul  keeping  watch 
over  its  own  abandoned  body.  Then  Father  Theoph- 
ilus  said: 

"From  the  cloisters  of  St.  James  of  Manganese! 
The  richest  of  the  monasteries  of  Constantinople,  and 
the  most  powerful.  It  furnishes  Sancta  Sophia  with 
renowned  preachers.  Its  brethren  cultivate  learning. 
Then'  library  is  unexcelled,  and  they  boast  that  in  the 
hundreds  of  years  of  their  society  life,  they  had  never 
an  heretic.  Before  then*  altars  the  candles  are  kept 
burning  and  trimmed  forever.  Their  numbers  are 
recruited  from  the  noblest  families.  Young  men  to 
whom  the  army  is  open  prefer  God-service  in  the 
elegant  retirement  of  St.  James  of  Manganese.  They 
will  interest  you,  Prince ;  and  after  them  we  will  have 
the  second  grand  division." 

"  Brethren  of  the  Islands  ? " 

"  Yes,  of  the  Islands  and  the  sea-shores." 


410 

Upon  the  pavement  then  appeared  a  precentor  at- 
tired like  a  Greek  priest  of  the  present  day ;  a  rimless 
hat  black  and  high,  and  turned  slightly  outward  at 
the  top;  a  veil  of  the  same  hue;  the  hair  gathered 
into  a  roll  behind,  and  secured  under  the  hat ;  a  wool- 
len gown  very  dark,  glossy,  and  dropping  in  ample 
folds  unconflned  from  neck  to  shoe.  The  Hegumen 
followed  next,  and  because  of  his  age  and  infirmities 
a  young  man  carried  the  torch  for  him.  The  chant- 
ing was  sweet,  pure,  and  in  perfect  time.  All  these 
evidences  of  refinement  and  respectability  were  no- 
ticed by  the  Prince,  and  looking  at  the  torch-bearer 
again,  he  recognized  the  young  monk,  his  room-mate 
in  the  White  Castle. 

' '  Knowest  thou  the  youth  yonder  ?  "  he  asked, 
pointing  to  Sergius. 

"A  Russian  recently  arrived,"  the  Father  replied. 
"Day  before  yesterday  he  was  brought  to  the  palace 
and  presented  to  the  Emperor  by  the  Princess  Irene. 
He  made  a  great  impression." 

The  two  kept  their  eyes  on  the  young  man  until  he 
disappeared  ascending  the  hill. 

"  He  will  be  heard  from;  "  and  with  the  prediction 
the  Prince  gave  attention  to  the  body  of  the  Brother- 
hood. 

"  These  men  have  the  bearing  of  soldiers,"  he  said 
presently. 

"  Then*  vows  respecting  war  are  liberal.  If  the 
panagia  were  carried  to  the  walls,  they  would  accom- 
pany it  in  armor." 

The  Prince  smiled.  He  had  not  the  faith  in  the 
Virgin  of  Blacherne  which  the  Father's  answer  im- 
plied. 

The  St.  James'  were  long  in  passing.  The  Prince 
kept  them  in  sight  to  the  last  four.  They  were  th& 


417 

aristocracy  of  the  Church,  prim,  proud ;  as  their  oppor- 
tunities were  more  frequent,  doubtless  they  were  more 
wicked  than  their  associates  of  the  humbler  fraterni- 
ties ;  yet  he  could  not  promise  himself  favor  from  their 
superior  liberality.  On  the  contrary,  having  a  great 
name  for  piety  to  defend,  if  a  test  offered,  they  were 
the  more  certain  to  be  hard  and  vindictive — to  send  a 
heretic  to  the  stake,  and  turn  a  trifling  variation  from 
the  creed  into  heresy. 

"Who  is  this  ?  "  the  Prince  exclaimed,  as  a  noble- 
looking  man  in  full  canonicals  stepped  out  of  the 
cypress  shadows,  first  of  the  next  division. 

"Master  of  Ceremonies  for  the  Church,"  Father 
Theophilus  replied.  ' '  He  is  the  wall  between  the 
Islanders  and  the  Metropolitans." 

"And  he  who  walks  with  him  singing  ? " 

"The  Protopsolete — leader  of  the  Patriarch's 
Choir." 

Behind  this  singer  the  monks  of  the  Isles  of  the 
Princes!  In  movement,  order,  dress,  like  their  pre- 
decessors in  the  march — Hegumen  with  their  follow- 
ers in  gray,  black  and  white — hands  palm  to  palm 
prayerfully — chanting  sometimes  better,  sometimes 
worse — never  a  look  upward  but  always  down,  as  if 
Heaven  were  a  hollow  in  the  earth,  an  abyss  at  their 
feet,  and  they  about  to  step  into  it. 

The  Prince  was  beginning  to  tire.  Suddenly  he 
thought  of  the  meeting  of  pilgrims  at  El  Zaribah. 
How  unlike  was  the  action  there  and  here!  That 
had  been  a  rush,  an  inundation,  as  it  were,  by  the 
sea,  fierce,  mad,  a  passion  of  Faith  fostered  by  free- 
dom; this,  slow,  solemn,  sombre,  oppressive — what 
was  it  like  ?  Death  in  Life,  and  burial  by  programme 
so  rigid  there  must  not  be  a  groan  more  or  a  tear  less. 
He  saw  Law  in  it  all — or  was  it  imposition,  force, 
27 


418 

choice  smothered  by  custom,  fashion  masquerading 
in  the  guise  of  Faith  ?  The  hold  of  Christ  upon  the 
Church  began  to  look  possible  of  measurement. 

"  Roti  first!  "  said  the  Father.  "Rocky  and  bare, 
scarce  a  bush  for  a  bird  or  grass  for  a  cricket — Ah, 
verily  he  shall  love  God  dearly  or  hate  the  world 
mortally  who  of  free  will  chooses  a  cloister  for  lif e  at 
Roti!" 

The  brethren  of  the  three  convents  of  the  Island 
marched  past  clad  in  short  brown  frocks,  bareheaded, 
barefooted.  The  comments  of  the  historian  were  few 
and  brief. 

"Poor  they  look,"  he  said  of  the  first  one,  "and 
poor  they  are,  yet  Michael  Rhangabe  and  Remain 
Lacapene  were  glad  to  live  and  die  with  them."  Of 
the  second :  ' '  When  Romain  Diogenes  built  the  house 
these  inhabit,  he  little  dreamed  it  would  shelter  him, 
a  refugee  from  the  throne."  Of  the  third:  "  Dardanes 
was  a  great  general.  In  his  fortunate  days  he  built  a 
tower  on  Roti  with  one  cell  in  it ;  in  an  evil  hour  he 
aspired  to  the  throne — failed — lost  his  eyes — retired 
to  his  lonesome  tower — by  his  sanctity  there  drew  a 
fraternity  to  him,  and  died.  That  was  hundreds  of 
years  ago.  The  brethren  still  pray  for  his  soul.  Be 
it  that  evil  comes  of  good ;  not  less  does  good  come  of 
evil — and  so  God  keeps  the  balances. " 

In  the  same  manner  he  descanted  on  the  several 
contingents  from  Antigone  as  they  strode  by;  then 
of  those  from  God's  houses  at  Halki,  the  pearl  of  the 
Marmora ;  amongst  them  the  monastery  of  John  the 
Precursor,  and  the  Convents  of  St.  George,  Hagia 
Trias,  and  lastly  the  Very  Holy  House  of  the  All 
Holy  Mother  of  God,  founded  by  John  VIII.  Palaeo- 
logus.  After  them,  in  turn,  the  consecrated  from 
Prinkipo,  especially  those  from  the  Kamares  of  the 


419 

Basilissa,  Irene,  and  the  Convent  of  the  Transfigu- 
ration. 

The  faithful  few  from  the  solitary  Convent  on  the 
Island  of  Oxia,  and  the  drab-gowned  abstinents  of  the 
monastery  of  Plati,  miserables  given  to  the  abnormity 
of  mixing  prayer  and  penance  with  the  cultivation 
of  snails  for  the  market  in  Constantinople,  were  the 
last  of  the  Islanders. 

Then  in  a  kind  of  orderly  disorganization  the  claus- 
tral  inculpables  from  holy  houses  on  Olympus  down 
by  the  Dardanelles,  the  Bosphorus,  and  the  Bithynian 
shore  behind  the  Isles  of  the  Princes,  and  some  from 
retreats  in  the  Egean  and  along  the  Peloponnesus, 
then*  walls  now  dust,  their  names  forgotten. 

"  Where  is  the  procession  going  ? "  the  Prince  now 
asked. 

"Look  behind  you — up  along  the  front  of  the 
palace." 

And  casting  his  eyes  thither,  the  questioner  beheld 
the  ground  covered  with  a  mass  of  men  not  there 
before. 

"  What  are  they  doing  ? " 

"Awaiting  the  Emperor.  Only  the  third  grand 
division  is  wanting  now;  when  it  is  up  His  Majesty 
will  appear." 

"And  descend  to  the  Chapel  ?" 

"Yes." 

For  a  time  a  noise  more  like  the  continuous,  steady 
monotone  of  falling  water  than  a  chant  had  been 
approaching  from  the  valley,  making  its  darkness 
vocal.  It  threatened  the  gates  awhile ;  now  it  was  at 
the  gates.  The  Prince's  wonder  was  great,  and  to 
appease  it  Father  Theophilus  explained : 

"The  last  division  is  at  hand." 

In  the  dim  red  light  over  the  area  by  the  gate  below. 


430 

the  visitor  beheld  figures  hurriedly  issuing  from  the 
night — figures  in  the  distance  so  wild  and  fantastic 
they  did  not  at  first  seem  human.  They  left  no  doubt, 
however,  whence  the  sound  proceeded.  The  white 
sand  of  the  road  up  the  terraces  was  beaten  to  dust 
under  the  friction  and  pressure  of  the  thousands  of 
feet  gone  before ;  this  third  division  raised  it  into  an 
attending  cloud,  and  the  cloud  and  the  noise  were 
incessant. 

Once  more  the  Prince  went  out  to  the  brink  of  the 
terrace.  The  monotony  of  the  pageant  was  broken ; 
something  new  was  announcing  itself.  Spectres — 
devils — gnomes  and  jinn  of  the  Islamitic  Solomon — 
rakshakas  and  hanumen  of  the  Eastern  Iliads — surely 
this  miscellany  was  a  composition  of  them  all.  They 
danced  along  the  way  and  swung  themselves  and  each 
other,  howling  like  dervishes  in  frenzy.  Again  the 
birds  took  wing  and  flew  blindly  above  the  cypresses, 
and  the  end  of  things  seemed  about  to  burst  when  a 
yell  articulate  yet  unintelligible  shook  the  guarded 
door  of  the  venerable  Chapel. 

Then  the  demoniacs — the  Prince  could  not  make 
else  of  them — leaping  the  brook,  crowding  the  pent 
enclosure,  hasting  to  the  arched  exit,  were  plainly  in 
view.  Men  almost  naked,  burned  to  hue  of  brick- 
dust;  men  in  untanned  sheepskin  coats  and  mantles; 
men  with  every  kind  of  headgear,  turbans,  handker- 
chiefs, cowls;  men  with  hair  and  beard  matted  and 
flying;  now  one  helped  himself  to  a  louder  yell  by 
tossing  in  air  the  dirty  garment  he  had  torn  from 
his  body,  hirsute  as  a  goat's;  now  one  leaped  up 
agile  as  a  panther;  now  one  turned  topsy-turvy;  now 
groups  of  them  swirled  together  like  whimsical  eddies 
in  a  pool.  Some  went  slowly,  their  arms  outspread  in 
silent  ecstasy ;  some  stalked  on  with  parted  lips  and 


staring  eyes,  trance-like  or  in  dead  drunkenness  of 
soul;  nevertheless  the  great  majority  of  them,  too 
weary  and  far  spent  for  violent  exertion,  marched 
with  their  faces  raised,  and  clapping  their  hands  or 
beating  their  breasts,  now  barking  short  and  sharp, 
like  old  hounds  dreaming,  then  finishing  with  long- 
drawn  cries  not  unlike  the  ending  of  a  sorrowful 
chorus.  Through  the  gate  they  crowded,  and  at  sight 
of  their  faces  full  of  joy  unto  madness,  the  Prince  quit 
pitying  them,  and,  reminded  of  the  Wahabbees  at  El 
Zaribah,  turned  to  Father  Theophilus. 

" In  God's  name,"  he  said,  "who  are  these  ? " 
' '  A  son  of  India  thou,  and  not  know  them  at  sight  ? " 
There  was  surprise  in  the  question,  and  a  degree  of 
unwarranted  familiarity,  yet  the  Father  immediately 
corrected  himself,  by  solemnly  adding:  "Look  there 
at  that  one  whirling  his  mantle  of  unshorn  skin  over 
his  head.  He  has  a  cave  on  Mt.  Olympus  furnished 
with  a  stool,  a  crucifix,  and  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures ;  he  sleeps  on  the  stone ;  the  mantle  is  his  bed- 
ding by  night,  his  clothing  by  day.  He  raises  vege- 
tables, and  they  and  snow-water  seeping  through  a 
crevice  in  his  cavern  subsist  him.  .  .  .  And  the 
next  him — the  large  man  with  the  great  coat  of  earners 
hair  which  keeps  him  scratched  as  with  thorns — he 
is  from  the  Monastery  of  St.  Auxentius,  the  abode  of 
a  powerful  fraternity  of  ascetics.  A  large  proportion 
of  this  wing  of  the  celebrants  is  of  the  same  austere 
house.  You  will  know  them  by  the  penitential,  dun- 
colored  garment — they  wear  no  other.  .  .  .  Yonder 
is  a  brother  carrying  his  right  arm  at  a  direct  angle 
above  his  shoulder,  stiff  and  straight  as  a  stick  of 
seasoned  oak.  He  is  of  a  colony  of  Stylites  settled 
on  this  shore  of  the  upper  Bosphorus  overlooking  the 
Black  Sea.  He  could  not  lower  the  arm  if  he  wished 


423 

to;  but  since  it  is  his  certificate  of  devoutness,  the 
treasures  of  the  earth  laid  at  his  feet  in  a  heap  would 
be  insufficient  to  induce  him  to  drop  it  though  for  an 
instant.  His  colony  is  one  of  many  like  it.  Spare 
him  thy  pity.  He  believes  the  clinch  of  that  hand 
holds  fast  the  latch  of  Heaven.  .  .  .  The  shouters 
who  have  just  entered  the  arch  in  a  body  have  hermi- 
taries  in  close  grouping  around  the  one  failing  monas- 
tery on  Plati,  and  live  on  lentils  and  snails ;  aside  from 
which  they  commit  themselves  to  Christ,  and  so  abound 
in  faith  that  the  Basileus  in  his  purple  would  be  very 
happy  were  he  true  master  of  a  tithe  of  their  happi- 
ness. .  .  .  Hast  thou  not  enough,  O  Prince? 
Those  crossing  the  brook  now  ? — Ah,  yes !  They  are 
anchorites  from  Anderovithos,  the  island.  Pitiable 
creatures  looked  at  from  the  curtained  windows  of  a 
palace — pitiable,  and  abandoned  by  men  and  angels ! 
Be  not  sure.  Everything  is  as  we  happen  to  see  it — a 
bit  of  philosophy,  which,  as  they  despise  the  best  things 
secularly  considered  of  this  life,  steels  them  to  indif- 
ference for  what  you  and  I,  and  others  not  of  their 
caste,  may  think.  They  have  arrived  at  a  summit 
above  the  corrupting  atmosphere  of  the  earth,  where 
every  one  of  them  has  already  the  mansion  promised 
him  by  our  Blessed  Lord,  and  where  the  angels  abide 
and  delight  to  serve  him.  .  .  .  For  the  rest,  O 
Prince,  call  them  indifferently  recluses,  hermits,  anti- 
cenobites,  mystics,  martyrs,  these  from  Europe,  those 
from  isolations  deep  somewhere  in  Asia.  Who  feeds 
them?  Did  not  ravens  feed  Elijah?  Offer  them  white 
bread  and  robes  of  silk,  yesterday's  wear  of  a  king. 
'  What  i '  they  will  ask.  '  Shall  any  man  fare  better 
than  John  the  Forerunner  ? '  Speak  to  them  of  com- 
fortable habitations,  and  they  will  answer  with  the 
famous  saying, '  Foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the 


air  have  nests;  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to 
lay  His  head.'  What  more  is  there  to  be  said  ?  Thou 
seest  them,  thou  knowest  them." 

Yes,  the  Prince  knew  them.  Like  the  horde  which 
stood  by  the  Black  Stone  envious  of  Mirza's  dying, 
these  were  just  as  ready  to  die  for  Christ.  He  smiled 
grimly,  and  thought  of  Mahommed,  and  how  easy 
the  Church  had  made  the  conquest  of  which  he  was 
dreaming. 

It  was  with  a  sense  of  relief  he  beheld  the  tail  of 
the  division  follow  its  body  up  to  the  palace. 

Then,  last  of  all,  came  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church, 
the  Cartulaire,  least  in  rank,  with  many  interme- 
diates, up  to  the  Cyncelle,  who,  next  to  the  absent 
Patriarch,  represented  him.  If  what  had  preceded 
in  the  procession  was  poor  and  unpretentious,  this  part 
was  splendid  to  excess.  They  were  not  more  than 
eighteen  or  twenty  in  number,  but  they  walked  singly 
with  considerable  intervals  between  them;  while  on 
the  right  and  left  of  each,  a  liveried  servant  carried  a 
torch  which  gave  him  to  be  distinctly  seen.  And  the 
flashing  of  gold  on  their  persons  was  wonderful  to 
the  spectator.  Why  not  ?  This  rare  and  anointed 
body  was  the  Church  going  in  solemnity  to  assist  the 
Basileus  in  a  high  ceremony. 

Afterwhile  the  Emperor  appeared  descending  to  the 
Chapel. 

To  the  Prince's  amazement,  he  was  in  a  plain, 
priestly  black  frock,  without  crown,  sword,  sceptre  or 
guard ;  and  so  did  his  guise  compare  with  the  magnif- 
icence of  the  ecclesiastics  surrounding  him,  he  act- 
ually seemed  in  their  midst  a  prisoner  or  a  penitent. 
He  passed  his  visitor  like  one  going  from  the  world 
forgetting  and  forgot. 

"  An  explanation,  Father,"  said  the  Prince.     "  The 


424 

Church  is  in  its  robes,  but  my  august  friend,  the 
Emperor,  looks  as  if  he  had  suffered  dethronement." 

"Thou  wilt  presently  see  His  Majesty  enter  the 
Chapel  alone.  The  legend  supposes  him  there  in 
presence  directly  of  God;  if  so,  what  merit  would 
there  be  in  regalia?  Would  his  sword  or  sceptre 
make  his  supplication  more  impressive  ?  " 

The  Prince  bowed. 

And  while  he  watched,  the  gold-clad  escort  halted 
before  the  Holy  House,  the  door  opened,  and  Con- 
stantine  went  in  unattended.  Then,  the  door  being 
shut  behind  him,  the  clergy  knelt,  and  remained 
kneeling.  The  light  from  the  torches  was  plenteous 
there,  making  the  scene  beautiful. 

And  yet  further,  while  he  stood  watching,  the 
trumpeting  and  chanting  on  the  level  in  front  of  the 
palace  behind  him  ceased,  and  a  few  minutes  after- 
wards, he  was  aware  of  the  noise  of  many  feet  rush- 
nig  in  a  scramble  from  all  directions  to  the  Chapel. 
Here  and  there  flambeaux  streamed  out,  with  hun- 
dreds of  dark-gowned  excited  figures  speeding  after 
them  as  best  they  could. 

The  bank  the  Prince  occupied  was  overrun,  like 
other  contiguous  spaces.  The  object  of  the  invaders 
was  to  secure  a  position  near  the  revered  building  as 
possible ;  for  immediately  on  attaining  it  they  dropped 
to  then:  knees,  and  began  counting  then*  rosaries  and 
mumbling  prayers.  At  length  it  befell  that  the  ter- 
races far  and  near  were  densely  crowded  by  monks  in 
low  recitation. 

"My  Lord,"  said  Father  Theophilus,  in  a  tone  of 
reserved  depth,  "the  Mystery  is  begun.  There  is  no 
more  to  be  seen.  Good-night ! "  And  without  ado, 
he  too  knelt  where  he  stood,  beads  in  hand,  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  one  point  of  devotional  interest 


When  the  sedan  was  brought,  the  Prince  gave  one 
last  glance  at  the  scene,  feeling  it  was  to  be  thence- 
forward and  forever  a  burden  on  his  memory.  He 
took  in  and  put  away  the  weather-stained  Chapel, 
centre  of  so  much  travail ;  the  narrow  court  in  front 
of  it  brilliantly  lighted  and  covered  with  priests  high 
and  low  in  glittering  vestments ;  the  cypresses  loom- 
ing skyward,  stately  and  stiff,  like  conical  monu- 
ments ;  the  torches  scattered  over  the  grounds,  reveal- 
ing patches  of  men  kneeling,  their  faces  turned  toward 
the  Chapel ;  the  mumbling  and  muttering  from  parts 
unlighted  telling  of  other  thousands  in  like  engage- 
ment. He  had  seen  battle-fields  fresh  in  their  horrors ; 
decks  of  ships  still  bloody ;  shores  strewn  with  wreck- 
age and  drowned  sailors,  and  the  storm  not  spent; 
populous  cities  shaken  down  by  earthquakes,  the 
helpless  under  the  ruins  pleading  for  help ;  but  withal 
never  had  he  seen  anything  which  affected  him  as  did 
that  royal  park  at  mid  of  night,  given  up  to  that 
spectral  multitude ! 

It  seemed  he  could  not  get  away  from  the  spectacle 
soon  enough ;  for  after  issuing  from  the  Grand  Gate, 
he  kept  calling  to  his  carriers,  impatiently:  "  Faster, 
my  men,  faster ! " 

28 


CHAPTER  V 

A   PLAGUE   OF    CHIME 

SERQIUS'  life  in  Constantinople  had  been  almost 
void  of  incident.  His  introduction  to  the  Patriarch 
by  the  Princess  Irene  started  him  well  with  that 
reverend  official,  whose  confidence  and  love  she 
commanded  to  a  singular  degree.  His  personal 
qualities,  however,  were  very  helpful.  The  gentle- 
ness of  his  nature,  his  youth,  his  simplicity,  respect- 
fulness, intelligence  and  obvious  piety  were  all  in 
his  favor ;  at  the  same  time  the  strongest  attraction 
he  possessed  with  the  strangers  amongst  whom  he 
found  himself  was  his  likeness  according  to  the 
received  Byzantine  ideal  to  Christ.  He  had  a  habit, 
moreover,  of  walking  slowly,  and  with  a  quiet  tread, 
his  head  lowered,  his  hands  clasped  before  him. 
Coming  in  this  mood  suddenly  upon  persons,  he 
often  startled  them;  at  such  times,  indeed,  the  dis- 
turbed parties  were  constrained  to  both  observe  and 
forgive  him — he  reminded  them  so  strikingly  of  the 
Nazarene  as  He  must  have  looked  while  in  solitary 
walks  by  the  sea  or  along  the  highways  of  Galilee. 
Whatever  the  cause,  it  is  very  certain  His  Serenity, 
the  Patriarch,  from  mere  attention  to  the  young 
Russian,  passed  speedily  to  interest  in  him,  and 
manifested  it  in  modes  pleasant  and  noticeable.  By 
his  advice,  Sergius  attached  himself  to  the  Brother- 
hood of  the  Monastery  of  St.  James  of  Manganese. 


m 

This  was  the  first  incident  in  his  city  life  out  of 
the  usual.  The  second  was  his  presentation  at  court, 
where  he  was  not  less  successful  with  the  Emperor 
than  he  had  been  with  the  Patriarch.  Yet  Sergius 
was  not  happy.  His  was  the  old  case  of  a  spirit 
willing,  even  anxious,  to  do,  but  held  in  restraint. 
He  saw  about  him  such  strong  need  of  saving  action; 
and  the  Christian  plan,  as  he  understood  it,  was  so 
simple  and  efficacious.  There  was  no  difference  in 
the  value  of  souls.  Taking  Christ's  own  words, 
everything  was  from  the  Father,  and  He  held  the 
gates  of  Heaven  open  for  the  beggar  and  the  emperor 
alike.  Why  not  return  to  the  plan  devised,  prac- 
tised, and  exemplified  by  the  Saviour  Himself  ?  The 
idea  bore  heavily  upon  his  mind,  and  accounted  for 
the  bent  head  and  slow  step  fast  becoming  habi- 
tudes. At  times  the  insurgent  impulses  seemed  be- 
yond control.  This  was  particularly  when  he  walked 
in  crowded  places ;  for  then  the  people  appeared  an 
audience  summoned  and  ready  to  hear  him ;  he  had 
only  to  go  into  their  midst,  call  to  them,  and  begin 
speaking ;  but  often  as  he  beheld  the  calm,  patient, 
pleading  face  of  the  Princess  Irene,  and  heard  her 
say  ever  so  gently:  "Wait,  wait!  I  know  the  situ- 
ation— you  do  not.  Our  object  is  the  most  good. 
God  will  send  the  opportunity.  Then  martyrdom, 
if  it  come,  is  going  to  Heaven.  Wait — I  will  give 
you  the  signal.  You  are  to  speak  for  me  as  well  as 
yourself.  You  are  to  be  my  voice" — so  often  he 
grew  reconciled. 

There  was  another  trouble  more  difficult  of  com- 
prehension and  description.  Under  its  influence  the 
sky  did  not  look  so  blue  as  formerly;  the  breeze 
was  less  refreshing;  the  sun  where  it  scattered  its 
golden  largesse  over  the  sea  failed  to  relieve  it  of 


428 

dulness;  and  in  all  things,  himself  included,  there 
was  something  wanting — exactly  what  he  could  not 
tell.  However,  as  he  had  been  indulging  compari- 
sons of  life  in  Constantinople  with  life  in  Bielo- 
Osero,  and  longing  for  the  holy  quiet  of  the  latter, 
he  concluded  he  was  homesick,  and  was  ashamed. 
It  was  childishness!  The  Great  Example  had  no 
home!  And  with  that  thought  he  struggled  man- 
fully to  be  a  man  forever  done  with  such  weak- 
nesses. 

It  became  his  wont  of  afternoons  when  the  weather 
was  tolerable  to  seek  the  city  wall  opposite  the  old 
Chalcedonian  point.  In  going  thither,  he  sometimes 
passed  through  the  Hippodrome  and  Sta.  Sophia, 
both  in  such  contact  to  the  collection  of  palaces 
known  as  the  Bucoleon  that  each  might  have  been 
fairly  considered  an  appurtenance  of  the  other.  The 
exercises  in  the  spacious  palaestrae  had  small  interest 
for  him ;  there  was  always  such  evident  rancor  be- 
tween the  factions  Blue  and  Green.  The  dome  of 
the  great  Church  he  regarded  man's  best  effort  at 
construction,  beyond  which  there  was  nothing  more 
attainable;  but  how  it  dwindled  and  faded  when 
from  the  wall  he  looked  at  the  sky,  the  sea,  and  the 
land,  the  handiworks  of  God  I 

On  the  wall,  at  a  point  marked  by  a  shallow  angle, 
there  was  a  cracked  stone  bench,  offering  seawardly 
a  view  of  the  Isles  of  the  Princes,  and  the  Asian  do- 
main beyond  Broussa  to  the  Olympian  heights ;  west- 
wardly,  the  Bucoleon  and  its  terraced  gardens  were 
near  by,  and  above  them  in  the  distance  the  Tower 
of  Isaac  Angelus  arose  over  Blacherne,  like  a  sentinel 
on  guard  against  the  opposing  summits  of  Galata 
and  Pera.  From  the  bench,  the  walk,  besides  being 
wide  and  smooth,  extended,  with  a  slight  curvature 


439 

northward  to  the  Acropolis,  now  Point  Serail,  and 
on  the  south  to  the  Port  of  Julian.  The  airy  prom- 
enade thus  formed  was  reached  by  several  stairs 
intermediate  the  landmarks  mentioned ;  yet  the  main 
ascent  was  near  the  Imperial  stables,  and  it  consisted 
of  a  flight  of  stone  steps  built  against  the  inner  face 
of  the  wall,  like  a  broad  buttress.  This  latter  was 
for  the  public,  and  of  sunny  days  it  was  used  inces- 
santly. Everybody  in  the  category  of  invalids  af- 
fected it  in  especial,  since  litters  and  sedans  were 
not  inhibited  there.  In  short,  the  popularity  of  this 
mural  saunter  can  be  easily  imagined. 

The  afternoon  of  the  day  the  Prince  of  India  was 
in  audience  by  the  Emperor's  invitation,  Sergius  was 
the  sole  occupant  of  the  stone  bench.  The  hour 
was  pleasant;  the  distant  effects  were  perfect;  birds 
and  boats  enlivened  the  air  and  water;  and  in  listen- 
ing to  the  swish  of  waves  amongst  the  rocks  and 
pebbles  below,  so  like  whisperings,  he  forgot  where 
he  was,  and  his  impatience  and  melancholy,  and  the 
people  strolling  negligently  past.  One  of  his  arms 
lay  along  the  edge  of  the  bulwark  before  him,  and 
he  was  not  thinking  so  much  as  simply  enjoying  ex- 
istence. To  such  as  noticed  him  he  appeared  a  man 
in  the  drowsy  stage  next  to  sleep. 

Afterwhile  a  voice  aroused  him,  and,  without  mov- 
ing, he  became  aware  of  two  men  stopped  and  talk- 
ing. He  could  not  avoid  hearing  them. 

"  She  is  coming,"  said  one. 

"  How  do  you  know  ? "  the  other  asked. 

"Have  I  not  told  you  I  keep  a  spy  on  the  old 
Prince's  house  ?  A  messenger  from  him  has  just  re- 
ported the  chair  arrived  for  her ;  and  this  being  her 
favorite  stroll,  she  will  be  here  presently." 

"  Have  you  considered  the  risks  of  your  project  ?" 


480 

"Risks?    Pah!" 

The  exclamation  was  with  a  contemptuous  laugh. 

"  But  they  have  grown  since  last  night,"  the  other 
persisted.  ' '  The  Indian  is  now  at  the  Palace,  His 
Majesty's  guest." 

"  Yes,  I  had  report  of  that  also;  but  I  have  studied 
the  game,  and  if  you  fear  to  join  me,  I  will  see  it 
through  alone.  As  an  offence  against  law,  it  is  ab- 
duction, not  murder ;  and  the  penalty,  imprisonment, 
can  be  easily  changed  to  banishment,  which  with  me 
means  at  the  utmost  a  short  absence  to  give  friends 
an  opportunity  to  prepare  for  my  return.  Consider, 
moreover,  the  subject  of  the  offence  will  be  a  woman. 
Can  you  name  an  instance  in  which  the  kidnapper 
of  a  woman  has  been  punished  ? — I  mean  in  our 
time  ? " 

"  True,  women  are  the  cheapest  commodity  in  the 
market;  therefore" — 

"I  understand,"  the  first  speaker  interposed,  a 
little  impatiently,  "  but  Princes  of  India  are  not 
common  in  Constantinople,  while  their  daughters 
are  less  so.  See  the  temptation !  Besides,  in  the  de- 
cadence of  our  Byzantine  empire,  the  criminal  laws 
fail  worse  and  worse  of  execution.  Only  last  night 
my  father,  delivering  a  lecture,  said  neglect  in  this 
respect  was  one  of  the  reasons  of  the  Empire's  going. 
Only  the  poor  and  degraded  suffer  penalties  now. 
And  I— pah  I  What  have  I  to  fear  ?  Or  thou  ?  And 
from  whom  ?  When  the  girl's  loss  is  discovered — 
you  observe  I  am  viewing  the  affair  in  its  most 
malignant  aspect — I  know  the  course  the  Prince  will 
take.  He  will  run  to  the  palace ;  there  he  will  fall  at 
the  Emperor's  feet,  tell  his  tale  of  woe,  and  " — 

"  And  if  thou  art  denounced  ? " 

The  conspirator  laughed  again. 


481 

"  The  worse  for  the  Prince,"  he  at  length  replied 
"  The  Hegumen,  my  honored  father,  will  follow  him 
to  the  palace,  and — but  let  the  details  go !  The  re- 
lations between  the  Basileus  and  the  Church  are 
strained  to  breaking;  and  the  condition  is  not  san- 
able  while  the  quarrel  between  the  Patriarch  and 
Scholarius  waxes  hotter." 

"The  Patriarch  and  Scholarius  quarrelling?  I 
had  not  heard  of  that." 

"  Openly,  openly!  His  Majesty  and  the  Patriarch 
are  tenderly  sympathetic.  What  more  is  wanting  to 
set  the  Prophet  scolding  ?  The  Patriarch,  it  is  now 
known,  will  not  be  at  the  Pannychides  to-night.  His 
health  began  failing  when,  over  his  objection,  it  was 
decided  to  hold  the  Mystery,  and  last  week  he  betook 
himself  to  the  Holy  Mountain.  This  morning  the 
Prophet"— 

4 '  Thou  meanest  Scholarius  ?  " 

' '  Scholarius  denounced  him  as  an  azymite,  which 
is  bad,  if  true;  as  unfaithful  to  God  and  the  Church, 
which  is  worse ;  and  as  trying  to  convert  the  Emperor 
into  an  adherent  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  which,  con- 
sidering the  Bishop  is  Satan  unchained,  will  not 
admit  of  a  further  descent  in  sin.  The  Mystery  to- 
night is  Scholarius'  scheme  in  contravention  of  His 
Serenity's  efforts.  Oh,  it  is  a  quarrel,  and  a  big  one, 
involving  Church  and  State,  and  the  infallibility 
of  our  newly  risen  Jeremiah.  Thus  full-handed, 
thinkest  thou  in  a  suit  the  Prince  of  India  against 
the  venerable  Hegumen  of  all  the  St.  James',  His 
Majesty  will  hesitate  ?  Is  thy  opinion  of  him  as  a 
politician  so  uncomplimentary  ?  Think  again,  I  say 
— think  again  !  " 

"Thy  father's  Brotherhood  are  His  Majesty's 
friends ! " 


482 

"Ah,  the  very  point!  They  despise  Scholarius 
now,  and  what  an  ado,  what  a  political  display,  to 
drive  them  into  his  arms!  The  Princes  of  India, 
though  they  were  numerous  as  the  spectre  caravan, 
could  not  carry  influence  that  far." 

Here  there  was  a  rest  in  the  conversation. 

' '  Well,  since  thou  wilt  not  he  persuaded  to  let  the 
enterprise  go,"  the  protesting  friend  next  said,  "at 
least  agree  with  me  that  it  is  indiscreet  to  speak  of  it 
in  a  place  public  as  this." 

The  laugh  of  the  conspirator  was  heartier  than 
before. 

"Ah,  hadst  thou  warned  me  not  to  speak  of  it  to 
the"— 

"  Enough  of  that !  The  Prince  of  India  is  nothing 
to  me — thou  art  my  friend." 

"Agree  with  me  then  that  thou  hast  ears,  while 
the  public  " — 

"Have  not,  thou  wouldst  say.  Still  there  are 
things  which  may  not  be  whispered  in  a  desert  with- 
out being  overheard. " 

"The  Pagans  who  went  before  us  had  a  god  of 
wisdom,  and  they  called  him  Hermes.  I  should  say 
thou  hast  been  to  school  to  him.  'Twas  he,  doubt- 
less, who  taught  outlaws  to  seek  safety  in  crowded 
cities.  By  the  same  philosophy,  where  can  one  talk 
treason  more  securely  than  on  this  wall  ?  Afraid  of 
discovery !  Not  I,  unless  thou  mumblest  in  thy  sleep. 
We  go  about  our  good  intents — the  improvement  of 
our  fortune  for  instance — with  awful  care,  and  step 
by  step,  fortifying.  The  practice  is  applicable  to 
wickedness.  I  am  no  bungler.  I  will  tell  thee  a 
tale.  .  .  .  Thou  knowest  the  Brotherhood  of  the 
Monastery  of  St.  James  of  Manganese  is  very  ancient, 
and  that  the  house  in  which  it  is  quartered  is  about 


433 

as  old  as  the  Brotherhood.  Their  archives  are  the 
richest  in  the  empire.  They  have  a  special  chamber 
and  a  librarian.  Were  he  of  the  mind,  he  might 
write  a  history  of  Constantinople  by  original  data 
without  leaving  his  library.  Fortunately  the  mere 
keepers  of  books  seldom  write  books.  .  .  .  My 
father's  office  is  in  the  Monastery,  and  I  frequently 
find  myself  in  his  company  there.  He  never  fails  to 
improve  the  opportunity  to  lecture  me,  for  he  is  a 
good  man.  One  day,  by  invitation,  I  accompanied 
the  librarian  to  his  place  of  keeping,  and  saw  it,  and 
wondered  how  he  could  be  willing  to  give  his  days — 
he  is  now  an  old  man — to  such  a  mass  of  rot  and 
smells.  I  spare  you  mention  of  the  many  things  he 
showed  me ;  for  there  was  but  one  of  real  ado  with 
what  we  are  considering,  an  old  document  illumi- 
nated with  an  untarnished  chrysobula.  '  Here, '  said 
he,  'is  something  curious.'  The  text  was  short — 
writers  in  those  days  knew  the  tricks  of  condensa- 
tion, and  they  practised  them  virtuously.  I  asked 
him  to  give  it  to  me — he  refused — he  would  sooner 
have  given  me  the  last  lock  on  his  head,  which  is  a 
great  deal,  seeing  that  hair  grows  precious  exactly 
as  it  grows  scantier.  So  I  made  him  hold  the  lamp 
while  I  read.  .  .  .  The  document  was  dated  about 
A.  D.  1300— a  century  and  a  half  gone,  and  proved  to 
be  a  formal  report  by  the  Patriarch  to  a  council  of 
Bishops  and  Hegumen.  .  .  .  Thou  knowest,  I 
am  sure,  the  great  cistern ;  not  the  Philoxenus,  but 
the  larger  one,  with  an  entrance  west  of  Sta.  Sophia, 
sometimes  called  the  Imperial,  because  built  by  the 
first  Constantine  and  enlarged  by  Justinian." 

"I  know  it." 

"  Well,  there  was  a  great  ceremony  there  one  day; 
the  same  with  which  the  report  was  concerned.  The 
28 


434 

clergy  attended  in  force  and  panoply  led  by  His  Se- 
renity in  person — monks,  nuns,  deacons  and  deacon- 
esses— in  a  word,  the  Church  was  present.  The  cis- 
tern had  been  profaned.  A  son  of  Satan,  moved  by 
a  most  diabolical  ingenuity,  had  converted  it  into  a 
den  of  wickedness  surpassing  sinful  belief ;  and  the 
procession  and  awful  conclave  were  to  assist  His 
Serenity  in  restoring  the  water  to  wholesomeness, 
impossible,  in  the  belief  of  consumers,  except  by  sol- 
emn exorcism.  .  .  .  Heed  now,  my  friend — I  am 
about  to  tap  the  heart  of  my  story.  A  plague  struck 
the  city — a  plague  of  crime.  A  woman  disappeared. 
There  was  search  for  her,  but  without  success.  The 
affair  would  have  been  dismissed  within  the  three 
days  usually  allotted  wonders  of  the  kind,  had  not 
another  like  it  occurred — and  then  another.  The 
victims,  it  was  noticed,  were  young  and  beautiful, 
and  as  the  last  one  was  of  noble  family  the  sensation 
was  universal.  The  whole  capital  organized  for  res- 
cue. While  the  hunt  was  at  its  height,  a  fourth 
unfortunate  went  the  way  of  the  others.  Sympathy 
and  curiosity  had  been  succeeded  by  anxiety ;  now 
the  public  was  aroused  to  anger,  and  the  parents  of 
handsome  girls  were  sore  with  fear.  Schemes  for 
discovery  multiplied ;  ingenuity  was  exhausted ;  the 
government  took  part  in  the  chase — all  in  vain.  And 
there  being  then  a  remission  in  the  disappearance, 
the  theory  of  suicide  was  generally  accepted.  Quiet 
and  confidence  were  returning,  when,  lo!  the  plague 
broke  out  afresh!  Five  times  in  five  weeks  Sta. 
Sophia  was  given  to  funeral  services.  The  ugly 
women,  and  the  halt,  and  those  long  hopeless  of 
husbands  shared  the  common  terror.  The  theory 
of  suicide  was  discarded.  It  was  the  doing  of  the 
Turks,  everybody  said.  The  Turks  were  systemati- 


435 

cally  foraging  Constantinople  to  supply  their  harems 
with  Christian  beauty ;  or  if  the  Turks  were  inno- 
cent, the  devil  was  the  guilty  party.  On  the  latter 
presumption,  the  Church  authorities  invented  a 
prayer  of  special  application.  Could  anything  bet- 
ter signify  the  despair  of  the  community  ?  A  year 
passed — two  years — three — and  though  every  one  re- 
solved himself  into  a  watchman  and  hunter ;  though 
heralds  cried  rewards  in  the  Emperor's  name  three 
times  each  day  on  the  street  corners,  and  in  every 
place  of  common  resort ;  though  the  fame  of  the 
havoc,  rapine,  spoliation,  or  whatsoever  it  may 
please  thee  to  call  the  visitation,  was  carried  abroad 
until  everybody  here  and  there  knew  every  particu- 
lar come  to  light  concerning  it,  with  the  pursuit,  and 
the  dragging  and  fishing  in  the  sea,  never  a  clew 
was  found.  One — two — three  years,  during  which  at 
intervals,  some  long,  some  short,  the  ancient  Chris- 
tian centre  kept  on  sealing  its  doors,  and  praying. 
Finally  the  disappearances  were  about  to  be  accepted 
as  incidents  liable  to  happen  at  any  time  to  any 
young  and  pretty  woman.  They  were  placed  in 
the  category  with  death.  There  was  mourning  by 
friends — that  was  about  all.  How  much  longer  the 
mystery  would  have  continued  may  not  be  said. 
.  .  .  Now  accidents  may  not  have  brought  the 
world  about,  yet  the  world  could  not  get  along  with- 
out accidents.  To  illustrate.  A  woman  one  day, 
wanting  water  for  her  household,  let  a  bucket  down 
one  of  the  wells  of  the  cistern,  and  drew  up  a  sandal 
slippery  and  decaying.  A  silver  buckle  adhered  to 
it.  Upon  inspecting  the  prize,  a  name  was  observed 
graven  on  its  under  side.  The  curious  came  to  see — 
there  was  discussion — at  length  an  examiner  blessed 
with  a  good  memory  coupled  the  inscription  with  one 


436 

of  the  lost  women.  It  was  indeed  her  name !  A  clew 
to  the  great  mystery  was  at  last  obtained.  The  city 
was  thrown  into  tumult,  and  an  exploration  of  the 
cistern  demanded.  The  authorities  at  first  laughed. 
'  What ! '  they  said.  '  The  Royal  reservoir  turned 
into  a  den  of  murder  and  crime  unutterable  by 
Christians ! '  But  they  yielded.  A  boat  was  launched 
en  the  darkened  waters — But  hold !  " 

The  voice  of  the  speaker  changed.  Something  was 
occurring  to  stop  the  story.  Sergius  had  succumbed 
to  interest  in  it ;  he  was  listening  with  excited  sense, 
yet  kept  his  semblance  of  sleep. 

"Hold!"  the  narrator  repeated,  in  an  emphatic 
undertone.  "  See  what  there  is  in  knowing  to  choose 
faithful  allies !  My  watchman  was  right.  She  comes 
— she  is  here !  " 

"Who  is  here?" 

"She — the  daughter  of  the  old  Indian.  In  the 
sedan  to  my  left — look !  " 

Sergius,  catching  the  reply,  longed  to  take  the 
direction  to  himself,  and  look,  for  he  was  compre- 
hending vaguely.  A  blindfolded  man  can  under- 
stand quite  well,  if  he  is  first  informed  of  the  business 
in  progress,  or  if  it  be  something  with  which  he  is 
familiar ;  imagination  seems  then  to  take  the  place 
of  eyes.  A  detective,  having  overheard  the  conver- 
sation between  the  two  men,  had  not  required  sight 
of  them ;  but  the  young  monk  was  too  recently  from 
the  cloisters  of  Bielo-Osero  to  be  quick  in  the  discern- 
ment of  villanies.  He  knew  the  world  abounded  in 
crime,  but  he  had  never  dealt  with  it  personally; 
as  yet  it  was  a  destroying  wolf  howling  in  the  dis- 
tance. He  yearned  to  see  if  what  he  dimly  surmised 
were  true — if  the  object  at  the  moment  so  attractive 
to  his  dangerous  neighbors  were  indeed  the  daughter 


487 

of  the  strange  Indian  he  had  met  at  the  White  Castle. 
His  recollection  of  her  was  wonderfully  distinct. 
Her  face  and  demeanor  when  he  assisted  her  from 
the  boat  had  often  reverted  to  his  thought.  They 
spoke  to  him  so  plainly  of  simplicity  and  dependence, 
and  she  seemed  so  pure  and  beautiful !  And  making 
the  acknowledgment  to  himself,  his  heart  took  to 
beating  quick  and  drum-like.  He  heard  the  shuffle 
and  slide  of  the  chairmen  going ;  when  they  ceased 
a  new  and  strange  feeling  came  and  possessed  itself 
of  his  spirit,  and  led  it  out  after  her.  Still  he  man- 
aged to  keep  his  head  upon  his  arm. 

"By  the  saintly  patron  of  thy  father's  Brother- 
hood, she  is  more  than  lovely!  I  am  almost  per- 
suaded." 

"Ah,  I  am  not  so  mad  as  I  was!  "  the  conspirator 
replied,  laughing;  then  he  changed  to  seriousness, 
and  added,  like  one  speaking  between  clinched  teeth 
— "I  am  resolved  to  go  on.  I  will  have  her — come 
what  may,  I  will  have  her!  I  am  neither  a  coward 
nor  a  bungler.  Thou  mayst  stay  behind,  but  I  have 
gone  too  far  to  retreat.  Let  us  follow,  and  see  her 
again — my  pretty  Princess !  " 

"  Stay — a  moment." 

Perception  was  breaking  in  on  Sergius.  He  scarcely 
breathed. 

"  Well  ? "  was  the  answer. 

"You  were  saying  that  a  boat  was  launched  in 
the  cistern.  Then  what  ?  " 

"Of  discovery?  Oh,  yes — the  very  point  of  my 
argument !  A  raft  was  found  moored  between  four 
of  the  great  pillars  in  the  cistern,  and  there  was  a 
structure  on  it  with  furnished  rooms.  A  small  boat 
was  used  for  going  and  coming." 

"Wonderful!" 


438 

"  Come — or  we  will  lose  the  sight  of  her." 

"  But  what  else  ?" 

"  Hooks,  such  as  fishermen  use  in  hunting  lobsters 
were  brought,  and  by  dragging  and  fishing  the  miss- 
ing women  were  brought  to  light — that  is,  their  bones 
were  brought  to  light.  More  I  will  tell  as  we  go.  I 
will  not  stay  longer." 

Sergius  heard  them  depart,  and  presently  he  raised 
his  head.  His  blood  was  cold  with  horror.  He  was 
having  the  awful  revelation  which  sooner  or  later 
bursts  upon  every  man  who  pursues  a  walk  far  in 
life. 


CHAPTER  VI 
A  BYZANTINE   GENTLEMAN   OF  THE   PERIOD 

SKRGIUS  kept  his  seat  on  the  bench ;  but  the  charm 
of  the  glorious  prospect  spread  out  before  it  was 
gone. 

Two  points  were  swimming  in  his  consciousness, 
like  motes  in  a  mist:  first,  there  was  a  conspiracy 
afoot ;  next,  the  conspiracy  was  against  the  daughter 
of  the  Prince  of  India. 

When  at  the  door  of  the  old  Lavra  upon  the 
snow-bound  shore  of  the  White  Lake,  he  bade 
Father  Hilarion  farewell  and  received  his  blessing, 
and  the  commission  of  an  Evangel,  the  idea  furthest 
from  him  was  to  signalize  his  arrival  in  Constanti- 
nople by  dropping  first  thing  into  love.  And  to  be 
just,  the  idea  was  now  as  distant  from  him  as  ever; 
yet  he  had  a  vision  of  the  child-faced  girl  he  met  on 
the  landing  at  the  White  Castle  in  the  hands  of 
enemies,  and  to  almost  any  other  person  the  shrink- 
ing it  occasioned  would  have  been  strange,  if  not 
suspicious.  His  most  definite  feeling  was  that  some- 
thing ought  to  be  done  in  her  behalf. 

Besides  this  the  young  monk  had  another  incentive 
to  action.  In  the  colloquy  overheard  by  him  the 
chief  speaker  described  himself  a  son  of  the  Hegu- 
men  of  the  St.  James'.  The  St.  James'!  His  own 
Brotherhood !  His  own  Hegumen  t  Could  a  wicked 


440 

son  have  been  born  to  that  excellent  man  ?  Much 
easier  to  disbelieve  the  conspirator;  still  there  were 
traditions  of  the  appearance  of  monsters  permitted 
for  reasons  clear  at  least  to  Providence.  This  might 
be  an  instance  of  the  kind.  Doubtless  the  creature 
carried  on  its  countenance  or  person  evidences  of 
a  miracle  of  evil.  In  any  event  there  could  be  no 
harm  in  looking  at  him. 

Sergius  accordingly  arose,  and  set  out  in  pursuit 
of  the  conspirators.  Could  he  overtake  the  sedan, 
they  were  quite  certain  to  be  in  the  vicinity,  and  he 
doubted  not  discovering  them. 

The  steps  of  the  sedan-carriers,  peculiarly  quick 
and  sliding,  seemed  in  passing  the  bench  to  have 
been  going  northwardly  toward  Point  Demetrius. 
Thither  he  first  betook  himself. 

In  the  distance,  over  the  heads  of  persons  going 
and  coming,  he  shortly  beheld  the  top  of  a  chair  in 
motion,  and  he  followed  it  rapidly,  fearing  its  occu- 
pant might  quit  the  wall  by  the  stairs  near  the  stables 
of  the  Bucoleon.  But  when  it  was  borne  past  that 
descent  he  went  more  leisurely,  knowing  it  must 
meet  him  on  the  return. 

Without  making  the  Point,  however,  the  chair  was 
put  about  toward  him.  Unable  to  discover  any  one 
so  much  as  suggestive  of  the  plotters,  and  fearing 
a  mistake,  he  peered  into  the  front  window  of  the 
painted  box.  A  woman  past  the  noon  of  life  gave 
him  back  in  no  amiable  mood  the  stare  with  which 
he  saluted  her. 

There  was  but  one  explanation:  he  should  have 
gone  down  the  wall  southwardly.  What  was  to  be 
done  ?  Give  up  the  chase  ?  No,  that  would  be  to 
desert  his  little  friend.  And  besides  he  had  not  put 
himself  within  hearing  of  the  design  against  her — it 


441 

vras  a  doing  of  Providence.  He  started  back  on  his 
trace. 

The  error  but  deepened  his  solicitude.  What  if  the 
victim  was  then  being  hurried  away  ? 

At  the  head  of  the  stairway  by  the  stables  he 
paused;  as  it  was  deserted,  he  continued  on  almost 
running — on  past  the  cracked  bench — past  the  Cleft 
Gate.  Now,  in  front,  he  beheld  the  towers  of  the 
imperial  residence  bearing  the  name  Julian,  and  he 
was  upbraiding  himself  for  indecision,  and  loading 
his  conscience  with  whatever  grief  might  happen  the 
poor  girl,  when  he  beheld  a  sedan  coming  toward 
him.  It  was  very  ornate,  and  in  the  distance  shone 
with  burnishments — it  was  the  chair — hers.  By  it, 
on  the  right  hand,  strode  the  gigantic  negro  who  had 
so  astonished  him  at  the  White  Castle.  He  drew  a 
long  breath,  and  stopped.  They  would  be  bold  who 
in  daylight  assailed  that  king  of  men ! 

And  he  was  taking  note  of  the  fellow's  barbaric 
finery,  the  solemn  stateliness  of  his  air,  and  the 
superb  indifference  he  manifested  to  the  stare  of  pass- 
ers-by, when  a  man  approached  the  chair  on  the 
opposite  side.  The  curtain  of  the  front  window  was 
raised,  and  through  it,  Sergius  observed  the  inmate 
draw  hastily  away  from  the  stranger,  and  drop  a 
veil  over  her  face. 

Here  was  one  of  the  parties  for  whom  he  was  look- 
ing. Where  was  the  other  ?  Then  the  man  by  the 
left  window  looked  back  over  his  shoulder  as  if  speak- 
ing, and  out  of  the  train  of  persons  following  the 
sedan,  one  stepped  briskly  forward,  joined  the  intrud- 
er, and  walked  with  him  long  enough  to  be  spoken 
to,  and  reply  briefly;  after  which  he  fell  back  and 
disappeared.  This  answered  the  inquiry. 

Assured  now  of  one  of  the  conspirators  in  sight, 


442 

the  monk  resolved  to  await  the  coming  up.  Through 
the  front  window  of  the  carriage,  which  was  truly  a 
marvel  of  polish  and  glitter,  the  girl  might  recognize 
him;  perhaps  she  would  speak;  or  possibly  the  ne- 
gro might  recall  him ;  in  either  event  he  would  have 
an  excuse  for  intervention. 

Meantime,  calmly  as  he  could — for  he  was  young, 
and  warm  blooded,  and  in  all  respects  a  good  instru- 
ment to  be  carried  away  by  righteous  indignation — 
he  took  careful  note  of  the  stranger,  who  kept  his 
place  as  if  by  warrant,  occasionally  addressing  the 
shrinking  maiden. 

Sergius  was  now  more  curious  than  angry;  and 
he  cared  less  to  know  who  the  conspirator  was  than 
how  he  looked.  His  surprise  may  be  imagined  when, 
the  subject  of  investigation  having  approached  near 
enough  to  be  perfectly  observed,  instead  of  a  monster 
marked,  like  Cain,  he  appeared  a  graceful,  though 
undersized  person,  with  an  agreeable  countenance. 
The  most  unfavorable  criticism  he  provoked  was  the 
loudness — if  the  word  can  be  excused — of  his  dress. 

A  bright  red  cloak,  hanging  in  ample  folds  from 
an  exaggerated  buckle  of  purple  enamel  on  his  left 
shoulder,  draped  his  left  side;  falling  open  on  the 
right,  it  was  caught  by  another  buckle  just  outside 
the  right  knee.  The  arrangement  loosed  the  right 
arm,  but  was  a  serious  hamper  to  walking,  and  made 
it  inconvenient  to  get  out  the  rapier,  the  handle  of 
which  was  protrusively  suggested  through  the  cloak. 
A  tunic  of  bright  orange  color,  short  in  sleeve  and 
skirt,  covered  his  body.  Where  undraped,  tight- 
fitting  hose  terminating  in  red  shoes,  flashed  their 
elongated  black  and  yellow  stripes  with  stunning 
effect.  A  red  cap,  pointed  at  top,  and  rolled  up 
behind,  but  with  a  long  visor-like  peak  shading  the 


443 

eyes,  and  a  white  heron  feather  slanted  in  the  band, 
brought  the  head  into  negligent  harmony  with  the 
rest  of  the  costume.  The  throat  and  left  arm  were 
bare,  the  latter  from  halfway  above  the  elbow. 

This  was  the  monk's  first  view  of  a  Byzantine 
gentleman  of  the  period  abroad  in  full  dress  to  dazzle 
such  of  the  gentler  sex  as  he  might  chance  to  meet. 

If  Sergius'  anticipation  had  been  fulfilled;  if,  in 
place  of  the  elegant,  rakish-looking  chevalier  in 
florid  garb,  he  had  been  confronted  by  an  individual 
awry  in  body  or  hideous  in  feature,  he  would  not 
have  been  confused,  or  stood  repeating  to  himself, 
"  My  God,  can  this  be  a  son  of  the  Hegumen  ?" 

That  one  so  holy  could  have  offspring  so  vicious 
stupefied  him.  The  young  man's  sins  would  find 
him  out — thus  it  was  written — and  then,  what  hu- 
miliation, what  shame,  what  misery  for  the  poor 
father ! 

Speeding  his  sympathy  thus  in  advance,  Sergius 
waited  until  the  foremost  of  the  sedan  carriers  gave 
him  the  customary  cry  of  warning.  As  he  stepped 
aside,  two  things  occurred.  The  occupant  of  the 
box  lifted  her  veil  and  held  out  a  hand  to  him.  He 
had  barely  time  to  observe  the  gesture  and  the 
countenance  more  childlike  because  of  the  distress 
it  was  showing,  when  the  negro  appeared  on  the  left 
side  of  the  carriage.  Staying  a  moment  to  swing1 
the  javelin  with  which  he  was  armed  across  the  top 
of  the  buckler  at  his  back,  he  leaped  forward  with 
the  cry  of  an  animal,  and  caught  the  gallant,  one 
hand  at  the  shoulder,  the  other  at  the  knee.  The 
cry  and  the  seizure  were  parts  of  the  same  act. 
Resistance  had  been  useless  had  there  been  no  sur- 
prise. The  Greek  had  the  briefest  instant  to  see  the 
assailant — an  instant  to  look  up  into  the  face  blacker 


444 

of  the  transport  of  rage  back  of  it,  and  to  cry  for 
help.  The  mighty  hands  raised  him  bodily,  and 
bore  him  swiftly  toward  the  sea-front  of  the  wall. 

There  were  spectators  near  by ;  amongst  them  some 
men;  but  they  were  held  fast  by  terror.  No  one 
moved  but  Sergius.  Having  seen  the  provocation, 
he  alone  comprehended  the  punishment  intended. 

The  few  steps  to  the  wall  were  taken  almost  on  the 
run.  There,  in  keeping  with  his  savage  nature,  the 
negro  wished  to  see  his  victim  fall,  but  a  puff  of 
wind  blew  the  red  cloak  over  his  eyes,  and  he 
stopped  to  shake  it  aside.  The  Greek  in  the  interval 
seeing  the  jagged  rocks  below,  and  the  waves  rolling 
in  and  churning  themselves  into  foam,  caught  at  his 
enemy's  head,  and  the  teeth  of  the  gold-gilt  iron 
crown  cut  his  palms,  bringing  the  blood.  He 
writhed,  and  into  Nile's  ears — pitiless  if  they  had 
not  been  dead — poured  screams  for  mercy.  Then 
Sergius  reached  out,  and  caught  him. 

Nilo  made  no  resistance.  When  he  could  free 
his  eyes  from  the  cloak  he  looked  at  the  rescuer, 
who,  unaware  of  his  infirmity,  was  imploring  him : 

"As  thou  lovest  God,  and  hopest  mercy  for  thy- 
self, do  no  murder !  " 

Now,  if  not  so  powerful  as  Nilo,  Sergius  was  quite 
as  tall ;  and  while  they  stood  looking  at  each  other, 
their  faces  a  little  apart,  the  contrast  between  them 
was  many  sided.  And  one  might  have  seen  the 
ferocity  of  the  black  visage  change  first  with  pleased 
wonder;  then  brighten  with  recognition. 

The  Byzantine  gained  his  feet  quickly,  and  in  his 
turn  taken  with  a  murderous  impulse,  drew  his 
sword.  Nilo,  however,  was  quickest;  the  point  of 
his  javelin  was  magically  promotive  of  Sergius'  re- 
newed efforts  to  terminate  the  affair. 


445 

A  great  many  persons  were  now  present.  To  bring 
a  multitude  in  hot  assemblage,  strife  is  generally 
more  potential  than  peace,  assume  what  voice  the 
latter  may.  These  rallied  to  Sergius'  assistance;  one 
brought  the  defeated  youth  his  hat,  fallen  in  the 
struggle ;  others  helped  him  rearrange  his  dress ;  and 
congratulating  him  that  he  was  alive,  they  took  him 
in  their  midst,  and  carried  him  away.  To  have 
drawn  upon  such  a  giant!  What  a  brave  spirit  the 
lad  must  possess ! 

It  pleased  Sergius  to  think  he  had  saved  the  Byzan- 
tine. His  next  duty  was  to  go  to  the  relief  of  the 
little  Princess.  A  dull  fancy  would  have  taught 
how  trying  the  situation  must  have  been  to  her ;  but 
with  him  the  case  was  of  a  quick  understanding 
quickened  by  solicitude.  Taking  Nilo  with  him,  he 
made  haste  to  the  sedan. 

If  we  pause  here,  venturing  on  the  briefest  break 
in  the  narrative,  it  is  for  the  reader's  sake  exclusively. 
He  will  be  sure  to  see  how  fair  the  conditions  are  for 
a  romantic  passage  between  Lael  and  Sergius,  and 
we  fear  lest  he  fly  his  imagination  too  high.  It  is 
true  the  period  was  still  roseate  with  knighterrantry ; 
men  wore  armor,  and  did  battle  behind  shields; 
women  were  objects  of  devotion;  conversation  be- 
tween lovers  was  in  the  style  of  high-flown  courtesy, 
chary  on  one  side,  energized  on  the  other  by  calls  on 
the  Saints  to  witness  vows  and  declarations  which 
no  Saint,  however  dubious  his  reputation,  could 
have  listened  to,  much  less  excused ;  yet  it  were  not 
well  to  overlook  one  or  two  qualifications.  The 
usages  referred  to  were  by  no  means  prevalent 
amongst  Christians  in  the  East;  in  Constantinople 
they  had  no  footing  at  all.  The  two  Comneni,  Isaac 
and  Alexis,  approached  more  nearly  the  Western  ideal 


446 

of  Chivalry  than  any  of  the  Byzantine  warriors;  if 
not  the  only  genuine  Knights  of  Byzantium,  they 
were  certainly  the  last  of  them ;  yet  even  they  stood 
aghast  at  the  fantastic  manners  of  the  Frankish 
armigerents  who  camped  before  their  gates  en  route 
to  the  Holy  Land.  As  a  consequence,  the  language 
of  ordinary  address  and  intercourse  amongst  natives 
in  the  Orient  was  simple  and  less  discolored  by  what 
may  be  called  pious  profanity.  Their  discourse  was 
often  dull  and  prolix,  but  never  a  composite  of  sacri- 
lege and  exaggeration.  Only  in  their  writings  were 
they  pedantic.  From  this  the  reader  can  anticipate 
somewhat  of  the  meeting  between  Sergius  and  Lael. 
It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  additionally  that  they  were 
both  young ;  she  a  child  in  years ;  he  a  child  in  lack 
of  worldly  experience.  Children  cannot  be  other 
than  natural. 

Approaching  the  sedan  anxiously,  he  found  the 
occupant  pale  and  faint.  Nilo  being  close  at  his 
side,  she  saw  them  both  in  the  same  glance,  and 
reached  her  hand  impulsively  through  the  window. 
It  was  a  question  to  which  the  member  was  offered. 
Sergius  hesitated.  Then  she  brought  her  face  up 
unveiled. 

"I  know  you,  I  know  you,"  she  said,  to  Sergius. 
"Oh,  I  am  so  glad  you  are  come!  I  was  so  scared 
— so  scared — I  will  never  go  from  home  again.  You 
will  stay  with  me — say  you  will — it  will  be  so  kind 
of  you.  ...  I  did  not  want  Nilo  to  kill  the  man. 
I  only  wanted  him  driven  off  and  made  let  me  alone. 
He  has  followed  and  persecuted  me  day  after  day, 
often  as  I  came  out.  I  could  not  set  foot  in  the 
street  without  his  appearing.  My  father  would  have 
me  bring  Nilo  along.  He  did  not  kill  him,  did  he  ? " 

The  hand  remained  held  out  during  the  speech,  as 


44? 

if  asking  to  be  taken.  Meanwhile  the  words  flowed 
like  a  torrent.  The  eyes  were  full  of  beseechment, 
and  irresistibly  lovely.  If  her  speech  was  innocent, 
so  was  her  appearance;  and  just  as  innocently,  he 
took  the  hand,  and  held  it  while  answering: 

1 '  He  was  not  hurt.  Friends  have  taken  him  away. 
Do  not  be  afraid." 

1 '  You  saved  him.  I  saw  you — my  heart  was  stand- 
ing still  in  my  throat.  Oh,  I  am  glad  he  is  safe  1  I 
am  no  longer  afraid.  My  father  will  be  grateful ;  and 
he  is  generous — he  loves  me  nearly  as  much  as  I  love 
him.  I  will  go  home  now.  Is  not  that  best  forme  ? " 

Sergius  had  grown  the  tall  man  he  was  without 
having  been  so  entreated — nay,  without  an  adven- 
ture in  the  least  akin  to  this.  The  hand  lay  in  his 
folded  lightly.  He  remembered  once  a  dove  flew 
into  his  cell.  The  window  was  so  small  it  no  doubt 
suggested  to  the  poor  creature  a  door  to  a  nesting 
place.  He  remembered  how  he  thought  it  a  mes- 
senger from  the  Heaven  which  he  never  gave  over 
thinking  of  and  longing  for,  and  he  wanted  to  keep 
it,  for  afterwhile  he  was  sure  it  would  find  a  way 
to  tell  him  wherewith  it  was  charged.  And  he  took 
the  gentle  stray  in  his  hand,  and  nursed  it  with  ex- 
ceeding tenderness.  There  are  times  when  it  seems 
such  a  blessing  that  memories  lie  shallow  and  easy 
to  stir:  and  now  he  recalled  how  the  winged  nuncio 
felt  like  the  hand  he  was  holding — it  was  almost  as 
soft,  and  had  the  same  magnetism  of  life — ay,  and 
the  same  scarce  perceptible  tremble.  To  be  sure  it 
was  merely  for  the  bird's  sake  he  kept  hold  of  the 
hand,  while  he  answered: 

"Yes,  I  think  it  best,  and  I  will  go  with  you  to 
your  father's  door." 

To  the  carriers  he  said : 


448 

"You  will  quit  the  wall  at  the  grand  stairs.  The 
Princess  wishes  to  be  taken  home." 

The  sensation  of  manliness  incident  to  caring  for 
the  weak  was  refreshingly  delightful.  While  the 
chair  was  passing  he  took  place  at  the  window. 
The  fingers  of  the  little  hand  still  rested  on  the  silken 
lining,  like  pinkish  pearls.  He  beheld  them  long- 
ingly, but  a  restraint  fell  upon  him.  The  pinkish 
pearls  became  sacred.  He  would  have  had  them 
covered  from  the  dust  which  the  whisking  breezes 
now  blew  up.  The  breezes  were  insolent.  The  sun, 
sinking  in  gold  over  the  Marmora,  ought  to  temper 
the  rays  it  let  fall  on  them.  Long  as  the  orb  had 
shone,how  curious  that  it  never  acquired  art  enough 
to  know  the  things  which  too  much  of  its  splendor 
might  spoil.  Then  too  he  desired  to  speak  with  Lael 
— to  ask  if  she  was  any  longer  afraid — he  could  not. 
Where  had  his  courage  gone  ?  When  he  caught  the 
young  Greek  from  Nilo,  the  shortest  while  ago,  he 
was  wholly  unconscious  of  timidity.  The  change 
was  wonderful.  Nor  was  the  awkwardness  begin- 
ning to  hamper  his  hands  and  feet  less  incompre- 
hensible. And  why  the  embarrassment  when  people 
paused  to  observe  him  ? 

Thus  the  party  pursued  on  until  the  descent  from 
the  wall ;  he  on  the  right  side  of  the  chair,  and  Nilo 
on  the  left.  Down  in  the  garden  where  they  were 
following  a  walk  across  the  terrace  toward  Sta. 
Sophia,  Lael  put  her  face  to  the  window,  and  spoke 
to  him.  His  eagerness  lest  a  word  were  lost  was  re- 
markable. He  did  not  mind  the  stooping — and  from 
his  height  that  was  a  great  deal — nor  care  much  if  it 
subjected  him  to  remark. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  Princess  lately — she  who  lives 
at  Therapia  ? "  Lael  asked. 


449 

' '  Oh,  yes, "  he  answered.  ' '  She  is  my  little  mother. 
I  go  up  there  often.  She  advises  me  in  everything." 

"It  must  be  sweet  to  have  such  a  mother,"  Lael 
said,  with  a  smile. 

"  It  is  sweet,"  he  returned. 

"And  how  lovely  she  is,  and  brave  and  assuring," 
Lael  added.  "Why,  I  forgot  when  with  her  to  be 
afraid.  I  forgot  we  were  in  the  hands  of  those  dread- 
ful Turks.  I  kept  thinking  of  her,  and  not  of  myself. " 

Sergius  waited  for  what  more  she  had  to  say. 

4 '  This  afternoon  a  messenger  came  from  her  to  my 
father,  asking  him  to  let  me  visit  her." 

The  heart  of  the  monk  gave  a  jump  of  pleasure. 

"And  you  will  go?" 

A  little  older  and  wiser,  and  she  would  have  de- 
tected a  certain  urgency  there  was  in  the  tone  with 
which  he  directed  the  inquiry. 

"I  cannot  say  yet.  I  have  not  seen  my  father 
since  the  invitation  was  received ;  he  has  been  with 
the  Emperor;  but  I  know  how  greatly  he  admires 
the  Princess.  I  think  he  will  consent ;  if  so,  I  will 
go  up  to  Therapia  to-morrow." 

Sergius,  silently  resolving  to  betake  himself  thither 
early  next  morning,  replied  with  enthusiasm :  "Have 
you  seen  the  garden  behind  her  palace  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Well,  of  course  I  do  not  know  what  Paradise  is, 
but  if  it  be  according  to  my  fancy,  I  should  believe 
that  garden  is  a  piece  of  it." 

"  Oh,  I  know  I  shall  be  pleased  with  the  Princess, 
her  garden — with  everything  hers." 

Thereupon  Lael  settled  back  in  her  chair,  and 

nothing  more  was  said  till  the  sedan  halted  in  front 

of  the  Prince's  door.     Appearing  at  the  window 

there,  she  extended  a  hand  to  her  escort.     The  pink- 

29 


450 

ish  pearls  did  not  seem  so  far  away  as  before,  and 
they  were  now  offered  directly.  He  could  not  resist 
taking  them. 

"  I  want  you  to  know  how  very,  very  grateful  I 
am  to  you,"  she  said,  allowing  the  hand  to  stay  in 
his.  "  My  father  will  speak  to  you  about  the  day's 
adventure.  He  will  make  the  opportunity  and  early. 
—But— but  "— 

She  hesitated,  and  a  blush  overspread  her  face. 

"  But  what  ?  "  he  said,  encouragingly. 

"  I  do  not  know  your  name,  or  where  you  reside." 

"  Sergius  is  my  name." 

"Sergius?" 

"Yes.  And  being  a  monk,  I  have  a  cell  in  the 
Monastery  of  St.  James  of  Manganese.  I  belong  to 
that  Brotherhood,  and  humbly  pray  God  to  keep  me 
in  good  standing.  Now  having  told  you  who  I  am, 
may  I  ask  " — 

He  failed  to  finish  the  sentence.  Happily  she 
divined  his  wish. 

"  Oh,"  she  said,  "  I  am  called  Gul-Bahar  by  those 
who  love  me  dearest,  though  my  real  name  is  Lael." 

"By  which  am  I  to  call  you  ?  " 

"Good-by,"  she  continued,  passing  his  question, 
and  the  look  of  doubt  which  accompanied  it.  "  Good- 
by — the  Princess  will  send  for  me  to-morrow." 

When  the  chair  was  borne  into  the  house,  it  seemed 
to  Sergius  the  sun  had  rushed  suddenly  down,  leav- 
ing a  twilight  over  the  sky.  He  turned  homeward 
with  more  worldly  matter  to  think  of  than  ever  be- 
fore. For  the  first  time  in  his  life  the  cloister  whither 
he  was  wending  seemed  lonesome  and  uncomfortable. 
He  was  accustomed  to  imagine  it  lighted  and  warmed 
by  a  presence  out  of  Heaven — that  presence  was  in 
danger  of  supersession.  Occasionally,  however,  the 


451 

girlish  Princess  whom  he  was  thus  taking  home  with 
him  gave  place  to  wonder  if  the  Greek  he  had  saved 
from  Nilo  could  be  a  son  of  the  saintly  Hegumen; 
and  the  reflection  often  as  it  returned  brought  a  mis- 
giving with  it ;  for  he  saw  to  what  intrigues  he  might 
be  subjected,  if  the  claim  were  true,  and  the  claimant 
malicious  in  disposition.  When  at  last  he  fell  asleep 
on  his  pillow  of  straw  the  vision  which  tarried  with 
him  was  of  walking  with  Gul-Bahar  in  the  garden 
behind  the  Homeric  palace  at  Therapia,  and  it  was 
exceedingly  pleasant. 


CHAPTER  VII 
A   BYZANTINE  HEKETIC 

WHILE  the  venerable  Chapel  on  the  way  up  the 
heights  of  Blacherne  was  surrounded  by  the  host  of 
kneeling  monastics,  and  the  murmur  of  their  prayers 
swept  it  round  about  like  the  sound  of  moaning 
breezes,  a  messenger  found  the  Hegumen  of  the  St. 
James'  with  the  compliments  of  the  Basileus,  and  a 
request  that  he  come  forward  to  a  place  in  front  of 
the  door  of  the  holy  house.  The  good  man  obeyed ; 
so  the  night  long,  maugre  his  age  and  infirmities,  he 
stayed  there  stooped  and  bent,  invoking  blessings 
upon  the  Emperor  and  Empire;  for  he  loved  them 
both ;  and  by  his  side  Sergius  lingered  dutifully  torch 
in  hand.  Twelve  hours  before  he  had  engaged  in  the 
service  worshipfully  as  his  superior,  nor  would  his 
thoughts  have  once  flown  from  the  Mystery  enacting ; 
but  now — alas,  for  the  inconstancy  of  youth ! — now 
there  were  intervals  when  his  mind  wandered.  The 
round  white  face  of  the  Princess  came  again  and 
again  looking  at  him  plainly  as  when  in  the  window 
of  the  sedan  on  the  promenade  between  the  Bucoleon 
and  the  sea.  He  tried  to  shut  it  out ;  but  often  as  he 
opened  the  book  of  prayers  which  he  carried  in  com- 
mon with  his  brethren,  trying  to  read  them  away; 
often  as  he  shook  the  torch  thinking  to  hide  them  in 
the  resinous  smoke,  the  pretty,  melting,  importunate 
eyes  reappeared,  their  fascination  renewed  and  un- 


453 

avoidable.  They  seemed  actually  to  take  his  efforts 
to  get  away  for  encouragement  to  return.  Never  on 
any  holy  occasion  had  he  been  so  negligent — never 
had  negligence  on  his  part  been  so  obstinate  and 
nearly  like  sin. 

Fortunately  the  night  came  to  an  end.  A  timid 
thing  when  first  it  peeped  over  the  hills  of  Scutari, 
the  day  emboldened,  and  at  length  filled  the  East, 
and  left  of  the  torches  alive  on  the  opposing  face  of 
Blacherne  only  the  sticks,  the  cups,  and  the  stream- 
ing smoke.  Then  the  great  host  stirred,  arose,  and 
in  a  time  incredibly  brief,  silently  gave  itself  back  to 
the  city ;  while  the  Basileus  issued  from  his  solitary 
vigils  in  the  Chapel,  and,  in  a  chastened  spirit  doubt- 
less, sought  his  couch  in  one  of  the  gilded  interiors 
up  somewhere  under  the  Tower  of  Isaac. 

The  Hegumen  of  the  St.  James1,  overcome  by  the 
unwonted  draughts  upon  his  scanty  store  of  strength, 
not  to  mention  the  exhaustion  of  spirit  he  had  under- 
gone, was  carried  home  in  a  chair.  Sergius  was 
faithful  throughout.  At  the  gate  of  the  monastery 
he  asked  the  elder's  blessing. 

"  Depart  not,  my  son ;  stay  with  me  a  little  longer. 
Thy  presence  is  comforting  to  me." 

The  adjuration  prevailed.  Truth  was,  Sergius 
wished  to  set  out  for  Therapia ;  but  banishing  the  face 
of  the  little  Princess  once  more,  he  helped  the  holy 
man  out  of  the  chair,  through  the  dark-stained  gate, 
down  along  the  passages,  to  his  apartment,  bare  and 
penitential  as  that  of  the  humblest  neophyte  of  the 
Brotherhood.  Having  divested  the  superior  of  his 
robes,  and,  gently  as  he  could,  assisted  him  to  lay 
his  spent  body  on  the  narrow  cot  serving  for  couch, 
he  then  received  the  blessing. 

"  Thou  art  a  good  son,  Sergius,"  the  Hegumen 


454 

said,  with  some  cheer.  "Thou  dost  strengthen  me. 
I  feel  thou  art  wholly  given  up  to  the  Master  and 
His  religion — nay,  so  dost  thou  look  like  the  Master 
that  when  thou  art  by  I  fancy  it  is  He  caring  for  me. 
Thou  art  at  liberty  now.  I  give  thee  the  blessing." 

Sergius  knelt,  received  the  trembling  hands  on  his 
bowed  head,  and  kissed  them  with  undissembled 
veneration. 

"Father,"  he  said,  "I  beg  permission  to  be  gone 
a  few  days." 

"Whither?" 

"  Thou  knowest  I  regard  the  Princess  Irene  as  my 
little  mother.  I  wish  to  go  and  see  her." 

"  At  Therapia  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Father." 

The  Hegumen  averted  his  eyes,  and  by  the  twitch- 
ing of  the  fingers  clasped  upon  his  breast  exposed  a 
trouble  at  work  in  the  depths  of  his  mind. 

"My  son, "he  at  length  said,  "I  knew  the  father 
of  the  Princess  Irene,  and  was  his  sympathizer.  I 
led  the  whole  Brotherhood  in  the  final  demand  for 
his  liberation  from  prison.  When  he  was  delivered, 
I  rejoiced  with  a  satisfied  soul,  and  took  credit  for  a 
large  part  of  the  good  done  him  and  his.  It  is  not 
to  magnify  myself,  or  unduly  publish  my  influ- 
ence that  the  occurrence  is  recalled,  but  to  show 
you  how  unnatural  it  would  be  were  I  unfriendly  to 
his  only  child.  So  if  now  I  say  anything  in  the 
least  doubtful  of  her,  set  it  down  to  conscience,  and 
a  sense  of  duty  to  you  whom  I  have  received  into 
the  fraternity  as  one  sent  me  specially  by  God.  .  .  . 
The  life  the  Princess  leads  and  her  manners  are  out- 
side the  sanctions  of  society.  There  is  no  positive 
wrong  in  a  woman  of  her  degree  going  about  in 
public  places  unveiled,  and  it  must  be  admitted  she 


455 

does  it  most  modestly ;  yet  the  example  is  pernicioua 
in  its  effect  upon  women  who  are  without  the  high 
qualities  which  distinguish  her;  at  the  same  tune  the 
habit,  even  as  she  illustrates  it,  wears  an  appearance 
of  defiant  boldness,  making  her  a  subject  of  indeli- 
cate remark — making  her,  in  brief,  a  topic  for  dis- 
cussion. The  objection,  I  grant,  is  light,  being  at 
worst  an  offence  against  taste  and  custom;  much 
more  serious  is  her  persistence  in  keeping  up  the 
establishment  at  Therapia.  A  husband  might  fur- 
nish her  an  excuse ;  but  the  Turk  is  too  near  a  neigh- 
bor— or  rather  she,  a  single  woman  widely  renowned 
for  beauty,  is  too  tempting  to  the  brutalized  un- 
believers infesting  the  other  shore  of  the  Bosphorus. 
Feminine  timidity  is  always  becoming;  especially  is 
it  so  when  honor  is  more  concerned  than  life  or  lib- 
erty. Unmarried  and  unprotected,  her  place  is  in 
a  holy  house  on  the  Islands,  or  here  in  the  city, 
where,  aside  from  personal  safety,  she  can  have  the 
benefit  of  holy  offices.  Now  rumor  is  free  to  accuse 
her  of  this  and  that,  which  charity  in  multitude  and 
without  stint  is  an  insufficient  mantle  to  save  her 
from.  They  say  she  prefers  guilty  freedom  to  mar- 
riage ;  but  no  one,  himself  of  account,  believes  it — 
the  constitution  of  her  household  forbids  the  taint. 
They  say  she  avails  herself  of  seclusion  to  indulge 
uncanonized  worship.  In  plain  terms,  my  son,  it  is 
said  she  is  a  heretic." 

Sergius  started  and  threw  up  his  hands.  Not  that 
he  was  surprised  at  the  charge,  for  the  Princess 
herself  had  repeatedly  admitted  it  was  in  the  air 
against  her;  but  coming  from  the  venerated  chief 
of  his  Brotherhood,  the  statement,  though  a  hear- 
say, sounded  so  dreadfully  he  was  altogether  unpre- 
pared for  it  Knowing  the  consequences  of  heresy. 


he  was  also  alarmed  for  her,  and  came  near  betray- 
ing himself.  How  interesting  it  would  be  to  learn 
precisely  and  from  the  excellent  authority  before 
him,  in  what  the  heresy  of  the  Princess  consisted. 
If  there  was  criminality  in  her  faith,  what  was  to  be 
said  of  his  own  ? 

"Father,"  he  remarked,  calmly  as  possible,  "I 
mind  not  the  other  sayings,  the  reports  which  go 
to  the  Princess'  honor — they  are  the  tarnishments 
which  malice  is  always  blowing  on  things  white 
because  they  are  white — but  if  it  be  not  too  trying 
to  your  strength,  tell  me  more.  Wherein  is  she  a 
heretic?" 

Again  the  gaunt  fingers  of  the  Hegumen  worked 
nervously,  while  his  eyes  averted  themselves. 

"  How  can  I  satisfy  your  laudable  question,  my 
son,  and  be  brief  ? "  and  with  the  words  he  brought 
his  look  back,  resting  it  on  the  young  man's  face. 
"  Give  attention,  however,  and  I  will  try.  ...  I 
take  it  you  know  the  Creed  is  the  test  of  orthodoxy, 
and" — he  paused  and  searched  the  eyes  above  his 
wistfully — "and  that  it  has  your  unfaltering  belief. 
You  know  its  history,  I  am  sure — at  least  you  know 
it  had  issue  from  the  Council  of  Nicaea  over  which 
Constantino,  the  greatest  of  ail  Emperors,  conde- 
Bcended  to  preside  in  person.  Never  was  proceeding 
more  perfect ;  its  perfection  proved  the  Divine  Mind 
in  its  composition;  yet,  sad  to  say,  the  centuries 
since  the  august  Council  have  been  fruitful  of  dis- 
putes more  or  less  related  to  those  blessed  canons, 
and  sadder  still,  some  of  the  disputes  continue  to  this 
day.  Would  to  God  there  was  no  more  to  be  said 
of  them!" 

The  good  man  covered  his  face  with  his  hands, 
like  one  who  would  shut  out  a  disagreeable  sight. 


467 

"But  it  is  well  to  inform  you,  my  son,  of  the  ques- 
tions whose  agitation  has  at  last  brought  the  Church 
down  till  only  Heaven  can  save  it  from  rupture  and 
ruin.  Oh,  that  I  should  live  to  make  the  acknowl- 
edgment— I  who  in  my  youth  thought  it  founded  on 
a  rock  eternal  as  Nature  itself!  ...  A  plain 
presentation  of  the  subject  in  contention  may  help 
you  to  a  more  lively  understanding  of  the  gravity 
and  untimeliness  of  the  Princess'  departure.  .  .  . 
First,  let  me  ask  if  you  know  our  parties  by  name. 
Verily  I  came  near  calling  them  factions,  and  that 
I  would  not  willingly,  since  it  is  an  opprobrious 
term,  resort  to  which  would  be  denunciatory  of  my- 
self— I  being  one  of  them." 

"  I  have  heard  of  a  Roman  party  and  of  a  Greek 
party;  but  further,  I  am  so  recently  come  to  Con- 
stantinople, it  would  be  safer  did  I  take  information 
of  you." 

"A  prudent  answer,  by  our  most  excellent  and 
holy  patron  1 "  exclaimed  the  Hegumen,  his  counte- 
nance relaxing  into  the  semblance  of  a  smile.  "  Be 
always  as  wise,  and  the  St.  James'  will  bless  them- 
selves that  thou  wert  brought  to  us.  ...  Attend 
now.  The  parties  are  Greek  and  Roman;  though 
most  frequently  its  enemies  speak  of  the  latter  as 
azy mites,  which  you  will  understand  is  but  a  nick- 
name. I  am  a  Romanist;  the  Brotherhood  is  all 
Roman;  and  we  mind  not  when  Scholarius,  and  his 
arch-supporter,  Duke  Notaras,  howl  azymite  at  us. 
A  disputant  never  takes  to  contemptuous  speeches 
except  when  he  is  worsted  in  the  argument." 

The  moderation  of  the  Hegumen  had  been  thus 
far  singularly  becoming  and  impressive  ;  now  a 
fierce  light  gleamed  in  his  eyes,  and  he  cried,  with  a 
spasmodic  clutch  of  the  hands:  "We  are  not  of  the 


forsworn !  The  curse  of  the  perjured  is  not  on  our 
souls!" 

The  intensity  of  his  superior  astonished  Sergius; 
yet  he  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  and  appreciate  the 
disclosures  of  the  outburst;  and  from  that  moment 
he  was  possessed  of  a  feeling  that  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  parties  was  hopelessly  past  settlement.  If 
the  man  before  him,  worn  with  years,  and  actually 
laboring  for  the  breath  of  life,  could  be  so  moved 
by  contempt  for  the  enemy,  what  of  his  co-partisans  ? 
Age  is  ordinarily  a  tamer  of  the  passions.  Here  was 
an  instance  in  which  much  contention  long  con- 
tinued had  counteracted  the  benign  effect.  As  a 
teacher  and  example,  how  unlike  this  Hegumen  was 
to  Hilarion.  The  young  man's  heart  warmed  with 
a  sudden  yearning  for  the  exile  of  the  dear  old  Lavra 
whose  unfailing  sweetness  of  soul  could  keep  the 
frigid  wilderness  upon  the  White  Lake  in  summer 
purple  the  year  round.  Never  did  love  of  man  for 
man  look  so  lovely;  never  did  it  seem  so  compre- 
hensive and  all  sufficient !  The  nearest  passion  oppo- 
sition could  excite  in  that  pure  and  chastened  nature 
was  pity.  But  here  t  Quick  as  the  reflection  came, 
it  was  shut  out.  There  was  more  to  be  learned. 
God  help  the  heretic  in  the  hands  of  this  judge  at 
this  time !  And  with  the  mental  exclamation  Sergius 
waited,  his  interest  in  the  definition  of  heresy  sharp- 
ened by  personal  concern. 

"There  are  five  questions  dividing  the  two  par- 
ties," the  Hegumen  continued,  when  the  paroxysm 
of  hate  was  passed.  "Listen  and  I  will  give  them 
to  you  in  naked  form,  trusting  time  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  deal  with  them  at  large.  .  .  .  First 
then  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  That  is,  does 
the  Holy  Ghost  proceed  from  the  Father,  or  from 


459 

the  Father  and  the  Son  ?  The  Greeks  say  from  the 
Father ;  the  Romans  say  the  Father  and  the  Son  being 
One,  the  Procession  must  needs  be  from  both  of 
them  conjunctively.  .  .  .  Next  the  Nicene  Creed, 
as  originally  published,  did  undoubtedly  make  the 
Holy  Ghost  proceed  from  the  Father  alone.  The 
intent  was  to  defend  the  unity  of  the  Godhead.  Sub- 
sequently the  Latins,  designing  to  cast  the  assertion 
of  the  identity  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the 
Spirit  of  the  Son  in  a  form  which  they  thought  more 
explicit,  planted  in  the  body  of  the  Creed  the  word 
filioque,  meaning  from  the  Son.  This  the  Greeks 
declare  an  unwarranted  addition.  The  Latins,  on 
their  part,  deny  it  an  addition  in  any  proper  sense ; 
they  say  it  is  but  an  explanation  of  the  principle 
proclaimed,  and  in  justification  trace  the  usage  from 
the  Fathers,  Greek  and  Latin,  and  from  Councils 
subsequent  to  the  Nicene.  .  .  .  When  we  con- 
sider to  what  depths  of  wrangle  the  two  themes  have 
carried  the  children  of  God  who  should  be  brethren 
united  in  love,  knowing  rivalry  only  in  zeal  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Church,  that  other  subjects  should 
creep  in  to  help  widen  the  already  dangerous  breach 
has  an  appearance  like  a  judgment  of  God;  yet  it 
would  be  dealing  unfairly  with  you,  my  son,  to  deny 
the  pendency  of  three  others  in  particular.  Of  these 
we  have  first,  Shall  the  bread  in  the  Eucharist  be 
leavened  or  unleavened  ?  About  six  hundred  years 
ago  the  Latins  began  the  use  of  unleavened  bread. 
The  Greeks  protested  against  the  innovation,  and 
through  the  centuries  arguments  have  been  bandied 
to  and  fro  in  good-natured  freedom;  but  lately, 
within  fifty  years,  the  debate  has  degenerated  into 
quarrel,  and  now — ah,  in  what  terms  suitable  to  a 
God-fearing  servant  can  I  speak  of  the  temper  sig- 


400 

nalizing  the  discussion  now  ?  Let  it  pass,  let  it  pass! 
.  .  .  We  have  next  a  schism  respecting1  Purga- 
tory. The  Greeks  deny  the  existence  of  such  a  state, 
saying  there  are  but  two  places  awaiting  the  soul 
after  death — Heaven  and  Hell." 

Again  the  Hegumen  paused,  arrested,  as  it  were, 
by  a  return  of  vindictive  passion. 

"  Oh,  the  schismatics ! "  he  exclaimed.  "  Not  to  see 
in  the  Latin  idea  of  a  third  place  a  mercy  of  God 
unto  them  especially !  If  only  the  righteous  are  ad- 
mitted to  the  All  Holy  Father  immediately  upon  the 
final  separation  of  body  'and  spirit ;  if  there  is  no 
intermediate  state  for  the  purgation  of  such  of  the 
baptized  as  die  sodden  in  their  sins,  what  shall  be- 
come of  them  ?  " 

Sergius  shuddered,  but  held  his  peace. 

"Yet  another  point,"  the  superior  continued,  ere 
the  ruffle  in  his  voice  subsided — "another  of  which 
the  wranglers  have  made  the  most ;  for  as  you  know, 
my  son,  the  Greeks,  thinking  themselves  teachers  of 
all  things  intellectual,  philosophy,  science,  poetry, 
art,  and  especially  religion,  and  that  at  a  period  when 
the  Latins  were  in  the  nakedness  of  barbarism,  are 
filled  with  pride,  like  empty  bottles  with  air;  and 
because  in  the  light  of  history  their  pride  is  not 
unreasonable,  they  drop  the  more  readily  into  the 
designs  of  the  conspirators  against  the  Unity  of  the 
Church — I  speak  now  of  the  Primacy.  As  if  power 
and  final  judgment  were  things  for  distribution 
amongst  a  number  of  equals !  As  if  one  body  were 
better  of  a  hundred  heads !  Who  does  not  know  that 
two  wills  equally  authorized  mean  the  absence  of 
all  will!  Of  the  foundations  of  God  Chaos  alone  is 
unorganized ;  and  to  such  likeness  Scholarius  would 
reduce  Christendom !  God  forbid !  Say  so,  my  son 


461 

— let  me  hear  you  repeat  it  after  me — God  for- 
bid!" 

With  an  unction  scarcely  less  fervid  than  his 
chief's,  Sergius  echoed  the  exclamation ;  whereupon 
the  elder  looked  at  him,  and  said,  with  a  flush  on  his 
face,  "I  fear  I  have  given  rein  too  freely  to  disgust 
and  abhorrence.  Passion  is  never  becoming  in  old 
men.  Lest  you  misjudge  me,  my  son,  I  shall  take 
one  further  step  in  explanation ;  it  will  be  for  you  to 
then  justify  or  condemn  the  feeling  you  have  wit- 
nessed in  me.  A  deeper  wound  to  conscience,  a 
grosser  provocation  to  the  divine  vengeance,  a  per- 
fidy more  impious  and  inexcusable  you  shall  never 
overtake  in  this  life,  though  you  walk  in  it  thrice 
the  years  of  Noah.  .  .  .  There  have  been  repeated 
attempts  to  settle  the  doctrinal  differences  to  which 
I  have  referred.  A  little  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago — it  was  in  the  reign  of  Andronicus  III. — one 
Barlaam,  a  Hegumen,  like  myself,  was  sent  to  Italy 
by  the  Emperor  with  a  proposal  of  union;  but  Bene- 
dict the  Pope  resolutely  refused  to  entertain  the 
proposition,  for  the  reason  that  it  did  not  contem- 
plate a  final  arrangement  of  the  question  at  issue 
between  the  Churches.  Was  he  not  right  ?  " 

Sergius  assented. 

"  In  1369,  John  V.  Palaeologus,  under  heavy  press- 
ure of  the  Turks,  renewed  overtures  of  reconcilia- 
tion, and  to  effectuate  his  purpose,  he  even  became 
a  Catholic.  Then  John  VI.,  the  late  Emperor,  more 
necessitous  than  his  predecessor,  submitted  such  a 
presentation  to  the  Papal  court  that  Nicolos  of  Cusa 
was  despatched  to  Constantinople  to  study  and  re- 
port upon  the  possibilities  of  a  doctrinal  settlement 
and  union.  In  November,  1437,  the  Emperor,  ac- 
companied by  Joseph,  the  Patriarch,  Besserion, 


Archbishop  of  Nicaea,  and  deputies  empowered  to 
represent  the  other  Patriarchs,  together  with  a  train 
of  learned  assistants  and  secretaries,  seven  hundred 
in  all,  set  out  for  Italy  in  response  to  the  invitation 
of  Eugenius  IV.  the  Pope.  Landing  at  Venice,  the 
Basileus  was  escorted  to  Ferrara,  where  Eugenius 
received  him  with  suitable  pomp.  The  Council  of 
Basle,  having  been  adjourned  to  Ferrara  for  the 
better  accommodation  of  the  imperial  guest,  was 
opened  there  in  April,  1438.  But  the  plague  broke 
out,  and  the  sessions  were  transferred  to  Florence 
where  the  Council  sat  for  three  years.  Dost  thou 
follow  me,  my  son  ? " 

"  With  all  my  mind,  Father,  and  thankful  for  thy 
painstaking. " 

"  Nay,  good  Sergius,  thy  attention  more  than  re- 
pays me.  .  .  .  Observe  now  the  essentials  of  all 
the  dogmatic  questions  I  named  to  you  as  to-day 
serving  the  conspiracy  against  the  Unity  of  our  be- 
loved Church  were  settled  and  accepted  at  the  Coun- 
cil of  Florence.  The  primacy  of  the  Roman  Bishop 
was  the  last  to  be  disposed  of,  because  distinguishable 
from  the  other  differences  by  a  certain  political  per- 
meation ;  finally  it  too  was  reconciled  in  these  words 
— bear  them  in  memory,  I  pray,  that  you  may  com- 
prehend their  full  import — '  The  Holy  Apostolic  See 
and  Roman  Pontiff  hold  the  Primacy  over  all  the 
world ;  the  Roman  Pontiff  is  the  successor  of  Peter, 
Prince  of  Apostles,  and  he  is  the  true  Vicar  of  Christ, 
the  head  of  the  whole  Church,  the  Father  and  Teach- 
er of  all  Christians.'  *  In  Italy,  1439 — mark  you,  son 
Sergius,  but  a  trifle  over  eleven  years  ago — the  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  from  the  East  and  West,  the 
Greeks  with  the  Latins — Emperor,  Patriarchs,  Metro* 

•  Addis  and  Arnold*'  Catholic  Die.  349. 


IP 

politans,  Deacons,  and  lesser  dignitaries  of  whatever 
title — signed  a  Decree  of  Union  which  we  call  the 
Hepnoticon,  and  into  which  the  above  acceptances 
had  been  incorporated.  I  said  all  signed  the  decree 
— there  were  two  who  did  not,  Mark  of  Ephesus  and 
the  Bishop  Stauropolis.  The  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, Joseph,  died  during  the  Council ;  yet  the  sig- 
natures of  his  colleagues  collectively  and  of  the 
Emperor  perfected  the  Decree  as  to  Constantinople. 
What  sayest  thou,  my  son  ?  As  a  student  of  holy 
canons,  what  sayest  thou  ? " 

"I  am  but  a  student,"  Sergius  replied;  "still  to 
my  imperfect  perception  the  Unity  of  the  Church 
was  certainly  accomplished." 

"In  law,  yes,"  said  the  Hegumen,  with  difficulty 
rising  to  a  sitting  posture — "  yes,  but  it  remained  to 
make  the  accomplishment  binding  on  the  consciences 
of  the  signatories.  Hear  now  what  was  done.  A 
form  of  oath  was  draughted  invoking  the  most  awful 
maledictions  on  the  parties  who  should  violate  the 
decree,  and  it  was  sworn  to." 

"Sworn  to?" 

"  Ay,  son  Sergius — sworn  to  by  each  and  all  of 
those  attendant  upon  the  Council — from  Basileus 
down  to  the  humblest  catechumen  inclusive,  they 
took  the  oath,  and  by  the  taking  bound  their  con- 
sciences under  penalty  of  the  eternal  wrath  of  God. 
I  spoke  of  certain  ones  forsworn,  did  I  not  ? " 

Sergius  bowed. 

44  And  worse — I  spoke  of  some  whose  souls  were 
enduring  the  curse  of  the  perjured.  That  was  ex- 
treme— it  was  passion — I  saw  thee  shudder  at  it,  and 
I  did  not  blame  thee.  Hear  me  now,  and  thou  wilt 
not  blame  me.  .  .  .  They  came  home,  the  Bas- 
ileus and  his  seven  hundred  followers.  Scarcely 


464 

were  they  disembarked  before  they  were  called  to 
account.  The  city,  assembled  on  the  quay,  de- 
manded of  them  :  *  What  have  you  done  with  us  ? 
What  of  our  Faith  ?  Have  you  brought  us  the  vic- 
tory ?  '  The  Emperor  hurried  to  his  palace  ;  the  prel- 
ates hung  their  heads,  and  trembling  and  in  fear 
answered:  'We  have  sold  our  Faith  —  we  have  be- 
trayed the  pure  sacrifice  —  we  have  become  Azy- 
mites.'*  Thus  spake  Bessarion  ;  thus  Balsamon, 
Archdeacon  and  Guardian  of  the  Archives;  thus 
Gemiste  of  Lacedaemon  ;  thus  Antoine  of  Heraclius  ; 
thus  spake  they  all,  the  high  and  the  low  alike,  even 
George  Scholarius,  whom  thou  didst  see  marching 
last  night  first  penitent  of  the  Vigils.  'Why  did 
you  sign  the  Decree  ?  '  And  they  answered,  '  We 
were  afraid  of  the  Franks.'  Perjury  to  impiety  — 
cowardice  to  perjury  !  .  .  .  And  now,  son  Sergius, 
it  is  said  —  all  said  —  with  one  exception.  Some  of  the 
Metropolitans,  when  they  were  summoned  to  sign  the 
Decree,  demurred,  '  Without  you  pay  us  to  our  satis- 
faction we  shall  not  sign.'  The  silver  was  counted 
down  to  them.  Nay,  son,  look  not  so  incredulous  — 
I  was  there  —  I  speak  of  what  I  saw.  What  could  be 
expected  other  than  that  the  venals  would  repudiate 
everything  ?  And  so  they  did,  all  save  Metrophanes, 
the  Syncelle,  and  Gregory,  by  grace  of  God  the 
present  Patriarch.  If  I  speak  with  heat,  dost  thou 
blame  me  ?  If  I  called  the  recusants  forsworn  and 
perjured,  thinkest  thou  the  pure  in  Heaven  charged 
my  soul  with  a  sin  ?  Answer  as  thou  lovest  the 
right?" 

"My  Father,"  Sergius  replied,  "the  denunciation 
of  impiety  cannot  be  sinful,  else  I  have  to  unlearn 


•  IRtt.  d»  FtgttM   (L'ABBfi    ROHBBACHER),  3d  ed.     Vol.  92.  88. 
MICHEL  DTTCAS. 


465 

all  I  have  ever  been  taught;  and  being  the  chief 
Shepherd  of  an  honorable  Brotherhood,  is  it  not  thy 
duty  to  cry  out  at  every  appearance  of  wrong  ?  That 
His  Serenity,  the  Patriarch,  receives  thy  acquittal 
and  is  notably  an  exception  to  a  recusancy  so  uni- 
versal, is  comforting  to  me ;  to  have  to  cast  him  out 
of  my  admiration  would  be  grievous.  But  pardon 
me,  if  from  fear  thou  wilt  overlook  it,  I  again  ask 
thee  to  speak  further  of  the  heresy  of  the  Princess 
Irene." 

Sergius,  besides  standing  with  his  back  to  the  door 
of  the  cell,  was  listening  to  the  Hegumen  with  an 
absorption  of  sense  so  entire  that  he  was  unaware  of 
the  quiet  entrance  of  a  third  party,  who  halted  after 
a  step  or  two  but  within  easy  hearing. 

"  The  request  is  timely — most  timely,"  the  Hegu- 
men replied,  without  regarding  the  presence  of  the 
newcomer.  "  I  had  indeed  almost  forgotten  the 
Princess.  .  .  .  With  controversies  such  as  I  have 
recounted  raging  in  the  Church,  like  wolves  in  a 
sheepfold,  comes  one  with  new  doctrines  to  increase 
the  bewilderment  of  the  flock,  how  is  he  to  be  met  ? 
This  is  what  the  Princess  has  done,  and  is  doing." 

"  Still,  Father,  you  leave  me  in  the  dark." 

The  Hegumen  faltered,  but  finally  said:  "Apart 
from  her  religious  views  and  novel  habits,  the  Prin- 
cess Irene  is  the  noblest  nature  in  Byzantium.  Were 
we  overtaken  by  some  great  calamity,  I  should  look 
for  her  to  rise  by  personal  sacrifice  into  heroism.  In 
acknowledgment  of  my  fatherly  interest  in  her,  she 
has  often  entertained  me  at  her  palace,  and  spoken 
her  mind  with  fearless  freedom,  leaving  me  to  think 
her  pursued  by  presentiments  of  a  fatality  which  ia 
to  try  her  with  terrible  demands,  and  that  she  is  al- 
ready prepared  to  submit  to  them," 
80 


466 

"Yes,"  said  Sergius,  with  an  emphatic  gesture, 
11  there  are  who  live  martyrs  all  their  days,  reserving 
nothing  for  death  but  to  bring  them  their  crowns." 

The  manner  of  the  utterance,  and  the  thought  com- 
pelled the  Hegumen's  notice. 

"My  son,"  he  said,  presently,  " thouhast  a  preach- 
er's power.  I  wish  I  foreknew  thy  future.  But  I 
must  haste  or" — 

"Nay,  Father,  permit  me  to  help  you  recline 
again." 

And  with  the  words,  Sergius  helped  the  feeble 
body  down. 

"Thanks,  my  son,"  he  received,  in  return,  "I 
know  thy  soul  is  gentle." 

After  a  rest  the  speech  was  resumed. 

"Of  the  Princess — she  is  given  to  the  Scriptures; 
in  the  reading,  which  else  would  be  a  praiseworthy 
usage,  she  refuses  light  except  it  proceed  from  her 
own  understanding.  We  are  accustomed  when  in 
doubt — thou  knowest  it  to  be  so — to  take  the  inter- 
pretations of  the  Fathers ;  but  she  insists  the  Son  of 
God  knew  what  He  meant  better  than  any  whose 
good  intentions  are  lacking  in  the  inspirations  of  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

A  gleam  of  pleasure  flitted  over  the  listener's  coun- 
tenance. 

"So,"  the  Hegumen  continued,  "she  hath  gone 
the  length  of  fabricating  a  creed  for  herself,  and  sub- 
stituting it  for  that  which  is  the  foundation  of  the 
Church — I  mean  the  Creed  transmitted  to  us  from 
the  Council  of  Nicsea." 

"  Is  the  substitute  in  writing,  Father  ?M 

"  I  have  read  it." 

"Then  thou  canst  tell  me  whence  she  drew  it.w 

"  From  the  Gospels  word  and  word.    .     .    .    There 


407 

now — I  am  too  weak  to  enter  into  discussion — I  can 
only  allude  to  effects. " 

"Forgive  another  request" — Sergius  spoke  hastily 
— "  Have  I  thy  permission  to  look  at  what  she  hath 
written  ?  " 

"  Thou  mayst  try  her  with  a  request;  but  remem- 
ber, my  son  " — the  Hegumen  accompanied  the  warn- 
ing with  a  menacious  glance — "remember  proselyting 
is  the  tangible  overt  act  in  heresy  which  the  Church 
cannot  overlook.  .  .  .  To  proceed.  The  Princess* 
doctrines  are  damnatory  of  the  Nicene ;  if  allowed, 
they  would  convert  the  Church  into  a  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  salvation.  They  cannot  be  toler- 
ated. ...  I  can  no  more — the  night  was  too 
much  for  me.  Go,  I  pray,  and  order  wine  and  food. 
To-morrow — or  when  thou  comest  again — and  delay 
not,  for  I  love  thee  greatly — we  will  return  to  the 
subject." 

Sergius  saw  the  dew  gathering  on  the  Hegumen's 
pallid  forehead,  and  observed  his  failing  voice.  He 
stooped,  took  the  wan  hand  from  the  laboring  breast, 
and  kissed  it;  then  turning  about  quickly  to  go  for 
the  needed  restoration,  he  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  the  young  Greek  whom  he  rescued  from  Nilo 
in  the  encounter  on  the  wall. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  ACADEMY  OF  EPICURUS 

"  I  WOULD  have  a  word  with  you,"  the  Greek  said, 
in  a  low  tone,  as  Sergius  was  proceeding  to  the  door. 

"But  thy  father  is  suffering-,  and  I  must  make 
haste." 

"  I  will  accompany  thee." 

Sergius  stopped  while  the  young  man  went  to  the 
cot,  removed  his  hat  and  knelt,  saying,  "  Thy  bless- 
ing, father." 

The  Hegumen  laid  a  hand  on  the  petitioner's  head. 

"  My  son,  I  have  not  seen  thee  for  many  days,"  he 
said;  "yet  in  hope  that  thou  hast  heard  me,  and 
abandoned  the  associates  who  have  been  endanger- 
ing thy  soul  and  my  good  name,  and  because  I  love 
thee — God  knows  how  well — and  remember  thy 
mother,  who  lived  illustrating  every  beatitude,  and 
died  in  grace,  praying  for  thee,  take  thou  my  blessing. " 

With  tears  starting  in  his  own  eyes,  Sergius 
doubted  not  the  effect  of  the  reproof  upon  the  son ; 
and  he  pitied  him,  and  even  regretted  remaining  to 
witness  the  outburst  of  penitence  and  grief  he  imag- 
ined forthcoming.  The  object  of  his  sympathy  took 
down  the  hand,  kissed  it  in  a  matter-of-fact  way, 
arose,  and  said,  carelessly  :  "  This  lamentation 
should  cease.  Why  can  I  not  get  you  to  under- 
stand, father,  that  there  is  a  new  Byzantium  ?  That 
even  in  the  Hippodrome  nothing  is  as  it  used  to  be 


469 

except  the  colors  ?  How  often  have  I  explained  to 
you  the  latest  social  discovery  admitted  now  by 
everybody  outside  the  religious  orders,  and  by  many 
within  them — I  mean  the  curative  element  in  sin." 

" Curative  element  in  sin! "  exclaimed  the  father. 

"  Ay— Pleasure." 

"O  God!"  sighed  the  old  man,  turning  his  face 
hopelessly  to  the  wall,  "  Whither  are  we  drifting  ?  " 

He  hardly  heard  the  prodigal's  farewell. 

"  If  you  wish  to  speak  with  me,  stay  here  until  I 
return. " 

This  Sergius  said  when  the  two  passed  out  of  the 
cell.  Going  down  the  darkened  passage,  he  glanced 
behind  him,  and  saw  the  Greek  outside  the  door; 
and  when  he  came  back  with  the  Hegumen's  break- 
fast, and  reentered  the  apartment,  he  brushed  by 
him  still  on  the  outside.  At  the  cot,  Sergius  offered 
the  refreshment  on  his  knees,  and  in  that  posture 
waited  while  his  superior  partook  of  it ;  for  he  dis- 
cerned how  the  aged  heart  was  doubly  stricken — 
once  for  the  Church,  deserted  by  so  many  of  its 
children,  and  again  for  himself,  forsaken  by  his 
own  son. 

"What  happiness  to  me,  O  Sergius,  wert  thou  of 
my  flesh  and  blood  I  " 

The  expression  covered  every  feeling  evoked  by 
the  situation.  Afterwhile  another  of  the  Brother- 
hood appeared,  permitting  Sergius  to  retire. 

"  I  am  ready  to  hear  you  now,"  he  said,  to  the 
Greek  at  the  door. 

"  Let  us  to  your  cell  then." 

In  the  cell,  Sergius  drew  forth  the  one  stool  per- 
mitted him  by  the  rules  of  the  Brotherhood. 

"  Be  seated,"  he  said. 

"No,  "the  visitor  returned,  "  I  shall  be  brief .    You 


470 

do  not  know  my  father.  The  St.  James'  should 
relieve  him  of  active  duty.  His  years  are  sadly 
enfeebling  him." 

"  But  that  would  be  ungrateful  in  them." 

"Heaven  knows,"  the  prodigal  continued,  com- 
plainingly,  "hew  I  have  labored  to  bring  him  up 
abreast  of  the  time;  he  lives  entirely  in  the  past. 
But  pardon  me  ;  if  I  heard  aright,  my  father  called 
you  Sergius." 

"  That  is  my  monastic  name.*' 

"  You  are  not  a  Greek  ? " 

"  The  Great  Prince  is  my  political  sovereign." 

"Well,  lam  Demedes.  My  father  christened  me 
Metrophanes,  after  the  late  Patriarch ;  but  it  did  not 
please  me,  and  I  have  entitled  myself.  And  now  we 
know  each  other,  let  us  be  friends." 

Sergius'  veil  had  fallen  over  his  face,  and  while 
replacing  it  under  the  hat,  he  replied,  "  I  shall  strive, 
Demedes,  to  love  you  as  I  love  myself." 

The  Greek,  it  should  be  remembered,  was  good 
featured,  and  of  a  pleasant  manner;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  as  to  partially  recompense  him  for  his  failure 
in  stature;  wherefore  the  overture  was  by  no  means 
repulsive. 

"You  may  wonder  at  my  plucking  you  from  my 
father's  side ;  you  may  wonder  still  more  at  my  pre- 
sumption in  seeking  to  attach  myself  to  you ;  but  I 
think  my  reasons  good.  ...  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  my  duty  to  acknowledge  that  but  for  your  inter- 
ference yesterday  the  gigantic  energumen  by  whom 
I  was  unexpectedly  beset  would  have  slain  me.  In 
fact,  I  had  given  myself  up  for  lost.  The  rocks  at 
the  foot  of  the  wall  seemed  springing  out  of  the  water 
to  catch  me,  and  break  every  bone  in  my  body. 
You  will  accept  my  thanks,  will  you  not  ?  n 


4TJ 

**  The  saving  two  fellow  beings,  one  from  murder, 
the  other  from  being  murdered,  is  not,  in  my  opinion, 
an  act  for  thanks;  still,  to  ease  you  of  a  sense  of 
obligation,  I  consent  to  the  acknowledgment." 

"  It  does  relieve  me,"  Demedes  said,  with  a  taking 
air;  "and  I  am  encouraged  to  go  on." 

He  paused,  and  surveyed  Sergius  deliberately  from 
head  to  foot,  and  the  admiration  he  permitted  to  be 
seen,  taken  as  a  second  to  his  continuing  words,  could 
not  have  been  improved  by  a  professed  actor. 

"Are  not  flesh  and  blood  of  the  same  significance 
in  all  of  us  ?  With  youth  and  health  superadded  to 
a  glorious  physical  structure,  may  we  not  always 
conclude  a  man  rich  in  spirit  and  lusty  impulses  t 
Is  it  possible  a  gown  and  priestly  hat  can  entirely 
suppress  his  human  nature?  I  have  heard  of  An- 
thony the  Anchorite." 

The  idea  excited  his  humor,  and  he  laughed. 

"I  mean  no  irreverence,"  he  resumed;  "but  you 
know,  dear  Sergius,  it  is  with  laughter  as  with  tears, 
we  cannot  always  control  it.  ...  Anthony  re- 
solved to  be  a  Saint,  but  was  troubled  by  visions  of 
beautiful  women.  To  escape  them,  he  followed  some 
children  of  Islam  into  the  desert.  Alas!  the  visions 
went  with  him.  He  burrowed  then  in  a  tomb — still 
the  visions.  He  hid  next  in  the  cellar  of  an  old 
castle — in  vain — the  visions  found  him  out.  He 
flagellated  himself  for  eighty  and  nine  years,  every 
day  and  night  of  which  was  a  battle  with  the  visions. 
He  left  two  sheepskins  to  as  many  bishops,  and  one 
haircloth  shirt  to  two  favorite  disciples — they  had 
been  his  armor  against  the  visions.  Finally,  lest  the 
seductive  goblins  should  assail  him  in  death,  he  bade 
the  disciples  lose  him  by  burial  in  an  unknown  place. 
Sergius,  my  good  friend" — here  the  Greek  drew 


*7S 

nearer,  and  laid  a  hand  lightly  on  the  monk's  flow- 
ing sleeve — "I  heard  some  of  your  replies  to  my 
father,  and  respect  your  genius  too  much  to  do  more 
than  ask  why  you  should  waste  your  youth  " — 

"Forbear!  Go  not  further — no,  not  a  word!" 
Sergius  exclaimed.  "  Dost  thou  account  the  crown 
the  Saint  at  last  won  nothing  ?  " 

Demedes  did  not  seem  in  the  least  put  out  by  the 
demonstration ;  possibly  he  expected  it,  and  was  sat- 
isfied with  the  hearing  continued  him. 

"I  yield  to  you,"  he  said,  with  a  smile,  "and  will- 
ingly since  you  convince  me  I  was  not  mistaken  in 
your  perception.  .  .  .  My  father  is  a  good  man. 
His  goodness,  however,  but  serves  to  make  him  more 
sensitive  to  opposition.  The  divisions  of  the  Church 
give  him  downright  suffering.  I  have  heard  him  go 
on  about  them  hours  at  a  time.  Probably  his  prone- 
ness  to  lamentation  should  be  endured  with  respect- 
ful patience;  but  there  is  a  peculiarity  in  it — he  is 
blind  to  everything  save  the  loss  of  power  and  influ- 
ence the  schisms  are  fated  to  entail  upon  the  Church. 
He  fights  valorously  in  season  and  out  for  the  old 
orthodoxies,  believing  that  with  the  lapse  of  religion 
as  at  present  organized  the  respectability  and  do- 
minion of  the  holy  orders  will  also  lapse.  Nay, 
Sergius,  to  say  it  plainly,  he  and  the  Brotherhood 
are  fast  keying  themselves  up  to  a  point  in  fanati- 
cism when  dissent  appears  blackest  heresy.  To  you, 
a  straightforward  seeker  after  information,  it  has 
never  occurred,  I  suspect,  to  inquire  how  far — or 
rather  how  close — beyond  that  attainment  lie  punish- 
ments of  summary  infliction  and  most  terrible  in 
kind  ?  Torture — the  stake — holocausts  in  the  Hippo- 
drome— spectacles  in  the  Cynegion — what  are  they 
to  the  enthused  Churchmen  but  righteous  judgments 


473 

mercifully  executed  on  wayward  heretics  ?  I  tell 
you,  monk — and  as  thou  lovest  her,  heed  me — I  tell 
you  the  Princess  Irene  is  in  danger." 

This  was  unexpected,  and  forcibly  put ;  and  think- 
ing of  the  Princess,  Sergius  lost  the  calmness  he  had 
up  to  this  time  successfully  kept. 

"The  Princess— tortured— God  forbid  1" 

"Recollect,"  the  Greek  continued — "for  you  will 
reflect  upon  this — recollect  I  overheard  the  close  of 
your  interview  with  my  father.  To-morrow,  or  upon 
your  return  from  Therapia,  be  it  when  it  may,  he 
will  interrogate  you  with  respect  to  whatever  she 
may  confide  to  you  in  the  least  relative  to  the  Creed, 
which,  as  he  states,  she  has  prepared  for  herself. 
You  stand  warned.  Consider  also  that  now  I  have 
in  part  acquitted  myself  of  the  obligation  I  am  under 
to  you  for  my  life." 

The  simple-mindedness  of  the  monk,  to  whom  the 
book  of  the  world  was  just  beginning  to  open,  was 
an  immense  advantage  to  the  Greek.  It  should  not 
be  surprising,  therefore,  if  the  former  relaxed  his  air, 
and  leaned  a  little  forward  to  hear  what  was  further 
submitted  to  him. 

"Have  you  breakfasted  ?"  the  prodigal  asked,  in 
his  easy  manner. 

"  I  have  not." 

"Ah!  In  concern  for  my  father,  you  have  neg- 
lected yourself.  Well,  I  must  not  be  inconsiderate. 
A  hungry  man  is  seldom  a  patient  listener.  Shall  I 
break  off  now  ?  " 

"You  have  interested  me,  and  I  may  be  gone 
several  days." 

"Very  well.  I  will  make  haste.  It  is  but  justice 
to  the  belligerents  in  the  spiritual  war  to  admit  the 
zeal  they  have  shown;  Gregory  the  Patriarch,  and 


474 

his  Latins,  on  the  one  side,  and  Scholarius  and  his 
Greeks  on  the  other.  They  have  occupied  the  pul- 
pits alternately,  each  refusing  presence  to  the  other. 
They  decline  association  in  the  Sacramental  rites.  In 
Sta.  Sophia,  it  is  the  Papal  mass  to-day ;  to-morrow, 
it  will  be  the  Greek  mass.  It  requires  a  sharp  sense 
to  detect  the  opposition  in  smell  between  the  incense 
with  which  the  parties  respectively  fumigate  the 
altars  of  the  ancient  house.  I  suppose  there  is  a 
difference.  Yesterday  the  parabaloni  came  to  blows 
over  a  body  they  were  out  burying,  and  in  the  strug- 
gle the  bier  was  knocked  down,  and  the  dead  spilled 
out.  The  Greeks,  being  the  most  numerous,  cap- 
tured the  labarum  of  the  Latins,  and  washed  it  in  the 
mud ;  yet  the  monogram  on  it  was  identical  with  that 
on  their  own.  Still  I  suppose  there  was  a  differ- 
ence. " 

Demedes  laughed. 

"But  seriously,  Sergius,  there  is  much  more  of  the 
world  outside  of  the  Church — or  Churches,  as  you 
prefer — than  on  the  inside.  In  the  tearing  each  other 
to  pieces,  the  militants  have  lost  sight  of  the  major 
part,  and,  as  normally  bound,  it  has  engaged  in 
thinking  for  itself.  That  is,  the  shepherd  is  asleep, 
the  dogs  are  fighting,  and  the  sheep,  left  to  their 
individual  conduct,  are  scattered  in  a  hunt  for  fresher 
water  and  greener  pasturage.  Have  you  heard  of 
the  Academy  of  Epicurus  ? n 

"No." 

"I  will  tell  you  about  it.  But  do  you  take  the 
seat  there.  It  is  not  within  my  purpose  to  exhaust 
you  in  this  first  conference." 

*'  I  am  not  tired." 

"Well" — and  the  Greek  smiled  pleasantly — "I 
Was  regardful  of  myself  somewhat  in  the  suggestion. 


475 

My  neck  is  the  worse  of  having  to  look  up  so  con- 
stantly. .  .  .  The  youth  of  Byzantium,  you  must 
know,  are  not  complaining  of  neglect ;  far  from  it — 
they  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  to  be  permitted  to 
think  in  freedom.  Let  me  give  you  of  their  con- 
clusions. There  is  no  God,  they  say,  since  a  self- 
respecting  God  would  not  tolerate  the  strife  and 
babble  carried  on  in  his  name  to  the  discredit  of  his 
laws.  Religion,  if  not  a  deceit,  is  but  the  tinkling 
of  brazen  cymbals.  A  priest  is  a  professor  eking  out 
an  allowance  of  fine  clothes  and  bread  and  wine; 
with  respect  to  the  multitude,  he  is  a  belled  donkey 
leading  a  string  of  submissive  camels.  Of  what  ac- 
count are  Creeds  except  to  set  fools  by  the  ears  ? 
Which  —  not  what — which  is  the  true  Christian 
Faith  ?  The  Patriarch  tells  us,  '  Verily  it  is  this,'  and 
Scholarius  replies,  '  "Verily  the  Patriarch  is  a  liar  and 
a  traitor  to  God  for  his  false  teaching' — he  then 
tells  us  it  is  that  other  thing  just  as  unintelligible. 
Left  thus  to  ourselves — I  acknowledge  myself  one  of 
the  wandering  flock — flung  on  our  own  resources — 
we  resorted  to  counselling  each  other,  and  agreed 
that  a  substitute  for  religion  was  a  social  necessity. 
Our  first  thought  was  to  revive  Paganism ;  worship- 
ping many  gods,  we  might  peradventure  stumble 
upon  one  really  existent :  whether  good  or  bad  ought 
not  to  trouble  us,  provided  he  took  intelligent  con- 
cern in  the  drift  of  things.  To  quarrel  about  his 
qualities  would  be  a  useless  repetition  of  the  folly  of 
our  elders — the  folly  of  swimming  awhile  in  a  roar- 
ing swirl.  Some  one  suggested  how  much  easier 
and  more  satisfactory  it  is  to  believe  in  one  God 
than  in  many;  besides  which  Paganism  is  a  fixed 
system  intolerant  of  freedom.  Who,  it  was  argued, 
would  voluntarily  forego  making  his  own  gods  I 


476 

The  privilege  was  too  delightful.  Then  it  was  pro- 
posed that  we  resolve  ourselves  each  into  a  God  unto 
himself.  The  idea  was  plausible ;  it  would  at  least  put 
an  end  to  wrangling,  by  giving  us  all  an  agreeable  ob- 
ject to  worship,  while  for  mental  demands  and  social 
purposes  generally  we  could  fall  back  on  Philosophy. 
Had  not  our  fathers  tried  Philosophy  ?  When  had 
society  a  better  well  being  than  in  the  halcyon  ages 
of  Plato  and  Pythagoras  ?  Yet  there  was  a  term  of 
indecision  with  us — or  rather  incubation.  To  what 
school  should  we  attach  ourselves  ?  A  copy  of  the 
Enchiridion  of  Epictetus  fell  into  our  hands,  and 
after  studying  it  faithfully,  we  rejected  Stoicism. 
The  Cynics  were  proposed ;  we  rejected  them — there 
was  nothing  admirable  in  Diogenes  as  a  patron.  We 
next  passed  upon  Socratus.  Sons  of  Sophroniscus 
had  a  lofty  sound;  still  his  system  of  moral  philos- 
ophy was  not  acceptable,  and  as  he  believed  in  a 
creative  God,  his  doctrine  was  too  like  a  religion. 
Though  the  Delphian  oracle  pronounced  him  the 
wisest  of  mankind,  we  concluded  to  look  further, 
and  in  so  doing,  came  to  Epicurus.  There  we 
stopped.  His  promulgations,  we  determined,  had 
no  application  except  to  this  life ;  and  as  they  offered 
choice  between  the  gratification  of  the  senses  and 
the  practice  of  virtue,  leaving  us  free  to  adopt  either 
as  a  rule  of  conduct,  we  formally  enrolled  ourselves 
Epicureans.  Then,  for  protection  against  the  Church, 
we  organized.  The  departure  might  send  us  to  the 
stake,  or  to  Tamerlane,  King  of  the  Cynegion,  or, 
infinitely  worse,  to  the  cloisters,  if  we  were  few ;  but 
what  if  we  took  in  the  youths  of  Byzantium  as  an 
entirety  ?  The  policy  was  clear.  We  founded  an 
Academy — the  Academy  of  Epicurus — and  lodged  it 
handsomely  in  a  temple ;  and  three  times  every  week 


477 

we  have  a  session  and  lectures.  Our  membership  is 
already  up  in  the  thousands,  selected  from  the  best 
blood  of  the  Empire;  for  we  do  not  confine  our 
proselyting  to  the  city. " 

Here  Sergius  lifted  his  hand.  He  had  heard  the 
prodigal  in  silence,  and  it  had  been  difficult  the 
while  to  say  which  dominated  his  feeling — disgust, 
amazement,  or  pity.  He  was  scarcely  in  condition 
to  think ;  yet  he  comprehended  the  despairing  cry  of 
the  Hegumen,  Oh,  my  God !  whither  are  we  drift- 
ing ?  The  possibilities  of  the  scheme  flew  about  him 
darkly,  like  birds  in  a  ghastly  twilight.  He  had 
studied  the  oppositions  to  religion  enough  to  appre- 
ciate the  attractive  power  there  was  for  youth  in  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure.  He  knew  also  something  of  the 
race  Epicureanism  had  run  in  the  old  competitions 
of  philosophy — that  it  had  been  embraced  by  more 
of  the  cultivated  Pagan  world  than  the  other  con- 
temporary systems  together.  It  had  been  amongst 
the  last,  if  not  in  fact  the  very  last,  of  the  conquests 
of  Christianity.  But  here  it  was  again;  nor  that 
merely — here  it  was  once  more  a  subject  of  organized 
effort.  Who  was  responsible  for  the  resurrection  t 
The  Church  ?  How  wicked  its  divisions  seemed  to 
him !  Bishop  fighting  Bishop — the  clergy  distracted 
— altars  discredited — sacred  ceremonies  neglected — 
what  did  it  all  mean,  if  not  an  interregnum  of  the 
Word  ?  Men  cannot  fight  Satan  and  each  other  at 
the  same  time.  With  such  self-collection  as  he 
could  command,  he  asked :  "What  have  you  in  sub- 
stitution of  God  and  Christ  ?  " 

"A  Principle,"  was  the  reply. 

"What  Principle?" 

"Pleasure,  the  Purpose  of  this  Life,  and  its  Pur- 
suit, an  ennobled  occupation." 


478 

"Pleasure  to  one  is  not  pleasure  to  another — it  is 
of  kinds." 

"  Well  said,  O  Sergius!  Our  kind  is  gratification 
of  the  senses.  Few  of  us  think  of  the  practice  of 
virtue,  which  would  be  dreaming  in  the  midst  of 
action." 

"And  you  make  the  pursuit  an  occupation  ? " 

"  In  our  regard  the  heroic  qualities  of  human 
nature  are  patience,  courage  and  judgment;  hence 
our  motto — Patience,  Courage,  Judgment.  The  pur- 
suit calls  them  all  into  exercise,  ennobling  the  occu- 
pation." 

The  Greek  was  evidently  serious.  Sergius  ran 
him  over  from  the  pointed  shoes  to  the  red  feather 
in  the  conical  red  hat,  and  said  in  accents  of  pity : 

"Oh,  alas!  Thou  didst  wrong  in  reentitling  thy- 
self. Depravity  had  been  better  than  Demedes." 

The  Greek  lifted  his  brows,  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

"In  the  Academy  we  are  used  to  taking  as  well 
as  giving,"  he  said,  wholly  unembarrassed.  "But, 
my  dear  Sergius,  it  remains  for  me  to  discharge  an 
agreeable  commission.  Last  night,  in  full  session, 
I  told  of  the  affair  on  the  wall.  Could  you  have 
heard  my  description  of  your  intervention,  and  the 
eulogium  with  which  I  accompanied  it,  you  would 
not  have  accused  me  of  ingratitude.  The  brethren 
were  carried  away ;  there  was  a  tempest  of  applause ; 
they  voted  you  a  hero ;  and,  without  a  dissent,  they 
directed  me  to  inform  you  that  the  doors  of  the 
Academy  were  open  " — 

"Stop,"  said  Sergius,  with  both  hands  up  as  if  to 
avert  a  blow.  After  looking  at  the  commissioner 
a  moment,  his  eyes  fiercely  bright,  he  walked  the 
floor  of  the  cell  twice. 


479 

"  Demedes,"  he  said,  halting  in  front  of  the  Greek, 
a  reactionary  pallor  on  his  countenance,  "the  effort 
thou  art  making  to  get  away  from  God  proves  how 
greatly  He  is  a  terror  to  thee.  The  Academy  is  only 
a  multitude  thou  hast  called  together  to  help  hide 
thee  from  Christ.  Thou  art  an  organizer  of  Sin — a 
disciple  of  Satan" — he  was  speaking  not  loud  or 
threateningly,  but  with  a  force  before  which  the 
other  shrank  visibly — "I  cannot  say  I  thank  thee 
for  the  invitation  on  thy  tongue  unfinished,  but  I 
am  better  of  not  hearing  it.  Get  thee  behind  me. " 

He  turned  abruptly,  and  started  for  the  door. 

The  Greek  sprang  after  him,  and  took  hold  of  his 
gown. 

"Sergius,  dear  Sergius,"  he  said,  "I  did  not  in- 
tend to  offend  you.  There  is  another  thing  I  have 
to  speak  about.  Stay !  " 

"  Is  it  something  different  ? "  Sergius  asked. 

"  Ay — as  light  and  darkness  are  different." 

"Be  quick  then." 

Sergius  was  standing  under  the  lintel  of  the  door. 
Demedes  slipped  past  him,  and  on  the  outside 
stopped. 

' '  You  are  going  to  Therapia  ? "  he  asked. 

"Yes." 

"  The  Princess  of  India  will  be  there.  She  has 
already  set  out." 

"  How  knowest  thou  ?" 

"  She  is  always  under  my  eyes." 

The  mockery  in  the  answer  reminded  Sergius  of 
the  Academy.  The  prodigal  was  designing  to  im- 
press him  with  an  illustration  of  the  Principle  it  had 
adopted  in  lieu  of  God.  The  motto,  he  was  having 
it  thus  early  understood,  was  not  an  empty  formula, 
but  an  inspiring  symbol,  like  the  Cross  on  the  flag. 


480 

This  votary,  the  advertisement  as  much  as  said,  was 
in  pursuit  of  the  little  Princess — he  had  chosen  her 
for  his  next  offering  to  the  Principle  which,  like 
another  God,  was  insatiable  of  gifts,  sacrifices,  and 
honors.  Such  the  thoughts  of  the  monk. 

"  You  know  her  ? "  Demedes  asked. 

"Yes." 

"  You  believe  her  the  daughter  of  the  Prince  of 
India  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  Then  you  do  not  know  her." 

The  Greek  laughed  insolently. 

"The  best  of  us,  and  the  oldest  can  be  at  times 
as  much  obliged  by  information  as  by  a  present  of 
bezants.  The  Academy  sends  you  its  compliments. 
The  girl  is  the  daughter  of  a  booth-keeper  in  the 
bazaar — a  Jew,  who  has  no  princely  blood  to  spare  a 
descendant — a  dog  of  a  Jew,  who  makes  profit  by 
lending  his  child  to  an  impostor." 

"  Whence  hadst  thou  this — this —  " 

The  Greek  paid  no  attention  to  the  interruption. 

"The  Princess  Irene  gives  a  fete  this  afternoon. 
The  fishermen  of  the  Bosphorus  will  be  there  in  a 
body.  I  will  be  there.  A  pleasant  time  to  you,  and 
a  quick  awakening,  O  Sergius ! " 

Demedes  proceeded  up  the  passage,  but  turned 
about,  and  said:  "Patience,  Courage,  Judgment. 
When  thou  art  witness  to  all  there  is  in  the  motto, 
O  Sergius,  it  may  be  thou  wilt  be  more  placable.  I 
shall  see  to  it  that  the  doors  of  the  Academy  are  kept 
open  for  thee." 

The  monk  stood  awhile  under  the  lintel  bewil- 
dered ;  for  the  introduction  to  wickedness  is  always 
stunning — a  circumstance  proving  goodness  to  be 
the  natural  order. 


CHAPTER  IX 
A  FISHERMAN'S  FETE 

THE  breakfast  to  which  Sergius  addressed  himself 
was  in  strict  observance  of  the  Rules  of  the  Brother- 
hood; and  being  plain,  it  was  quickly  despatched. 
Returning  to  his  cell,  he  let  his  hair  loose,  and 
combed  it  with  care ;  then  rolling  it  into  a  glisten- 
ing mass,  he  tucked  it  under  his  hat.  Selecting  a 
fresher  veil  next,  he  arranged  that  to  fall  down  his 
back  and  over  the  left  shoulder.  He  also  swept  the 
dark  gown  free  of  dust,  and  cleansing  the  crucifix 
and  large  black  horn  beads  of  his  rosary,  lingered  a 
moment  while  contemplating  the  five  sublime  mys- 
teries allotted  to  the  third  chaplet,  beginning  with  the 
Resurrection  of  Christ  and  ending  with  the  Corona- 
tion of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  a  calmness  of  spirit 
such  as  follows  absolution,  he  finally  sallied  from 
the  Monastery,  and  ere  long  arrived  at  the  landing 
outside  the  Fish  Market  Gate  on  the  Golden  Horn. 
The  detentions  had  been  long;  so  for  speed  he  se- 
lected a  two-oared  boat. 

"To  Therapia — by  noon,"  he  said  to  the  rower, 
and,  dropping  into  the  passenger's  box,  surrendered 
himself  to  reflection. 

The  waterway  by  which  the  monk  proceeded  is 
not  unfamiliar  to  the  reader,  a  general  idea  of  it 
having  been  given  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  ad- 
ventures of  the  Prince  of  India  in  his  outing-  up  the 
31 


482 

Bosphorus  to  the  Sweet  Waters  of  Asia.  The  im- 
pression there  sought  to  be  conveyed — how  feebly  is 
again  regretfully  admitted — was  of  a  panorama  re- 
markable as  a  composition  of  all  the  elements  of 
scenic  beauty  blent  together  in  incomparable  perfec- 
tion. Now,  however,  it  failed  the  tribute  customary 
from  such  as  had  happily  to  traverse  it. 

The  restfulness  of  the  swift  going ;  the  shrinking  of 
the  flood  under  the  beating  of  the  oars ;  the  sky  and 
the  wooded  heights,  and  the  stretches  of  shore,  town 
and  palace  lined;  the  tearing  through  the  blue  veil 
hanging  over  the  retiring  distances;  the  birds,  the 
breezes,  the  ships  hither  coming  and  yonder  going, 
and  the  sparkles  shooting  up  in  myriad  recurrence  on 
the  breaking  waves — all  these  pleasures  of  the  most 
delicate  of  the  receiving  senses  were  tyrannically  for- 
bidden him. 

The  box  in  which  he  sat  half  reclining  was  wide 
enough  for  another  passenger  side  by  side  with  him, 
and  it  seemed  he  imagined  the  vacant  place  occupied 
now  by  Demedes,  and  now  by  Lael,  and  that  he  was 
speaking  to  them ;  when  to  the  former,  it  was  with 
dislike,  and  a  disposition  to  avoid  the  touch  of  his 
red  cloak,  though  on  the  sleeve  ever  so  lightly; 
when  to  the  latter,  his  voice  would  lower,  his  eyes 
soften,  and  the  angry  spots  on  his  brow  and  cheeks 
go  out — not  more  completely  could  they  have  disap- 
peared had  she  actually  exorcised  them  with  some 
of  the  sweet  confessions  lovers  keep  for  emergencies, 
and  a  touch  of  finger  besides. 

"So,"  he  would  say,  Demedes  for  the  time  on  the 
seat,  "thou  deniest  God,  and  hast  a  plot  against 
Christ.  Shameful  in  the  son  of  a  good  father !  .  .  . 
What  is  thy  Academy  but  defiance  of  tine  Eternal 
Majesty  ?  As  well  curse  the  Holy  Ghost  at  once,  for 


why  should  he  who  of  preference  seeketh  a  bed  with 
the  damned  be  disappointed  ?  Or  is  thy  audacity  a 
blasphemous  trial  of  the  endurance  of  forgiveness  ? " 
.  .  .  Exit  Demedes,  enter  Lael.  .  .  .  "The 
child — she  is  a  child !  By  such  proof  as  there  is  in 
innocence,  and  in  the  loveliness  of  blushing  cheeks, 
and  eyes  which  answer  the  Heavenly  light  they  let 
in  by  light  as  Heavenly  let  out,  she  is  a  child !  What 
does  evil  see  in  her  to  set  it  hungering  after  her  ?  Or 
is  there  in  virtue  a  signal  to  its  enemies — Lo,  here ! 
A  light  to  be  blown  out,  lest  it  disperse  our  dark- 
ness!" .  .  .  Reenter  Demedes.  .  .  .  "Ab- 
duct her !— How  ? — When  ?  To  that  end  is  it  thou 
keepest  her  always  under  eye  ?  The  Princess  Irene 
gives  a  Fisherman's  Fete — the  child  will  be  there — 
thou  wilt  be  there.  Is  this  the  day  of  the  attempt  ? 
Bravos  as  fishermen,  to  seize  her — boats  to  carry  her 
off — the  Bosphorus  wide  and  deep,  and  the  hills  be- 
yond a  hiding-place,  and  in  the  sky  over  them  the 
awful  name  Turk.  The  crime  and  the  opportunity 
hand  in  hand!  Let  them  prosper  now,  and  I  who 
have  from  the  cradle's  side  despatched  my  soul  faith 
in  hand  to  lay  it  at  Heaven's  gate  may  never  again 
deny  a  merit  in  the  invocation  of  Sin  virtuous  as 
prayer."  .  .  .  To  Lael  in  the  seat.  .  .  .  "But 
be  not  afraid.  I  will  be  there  also.  I "...  A 
sudden  fear  fell  upon  him.  If  the  abduction  were 
indeed  arranged  for  the  afternoon,  to  what  might  he 
not  be  led  by  an  open  attempt  to  defeat  it  ?  Blood- 
shed— violence !  He  whose  every  dream  had  been  of 
a  life  in  which  his  fellow-men  might  find  encourage- 
ment to  endure  their  burdens,  and  of  walking  before 
them  an  example  of  love  and  forbearance,  submissive 
and  meek  that  he  might  with  the  more  unanswer- 
able grace  preach  obedience  and  fraternity  to  them— 


484 

Merciful  Heaven  I  And  he  shuddered  and  drew  the 
veil  hastily  over  his  face,  as  if,  in  a  bloody  tumult, 
the  ideal  life,  so  the  ultimate  happiness,  were  van- 
ishing- before  his  eyes.  Taking  the  confessions  of 
such  as  have  been  greatly  tried,  few  men,  few  even 
of  those  renowned  for  courage  and  fine  achievement, 
ever  pass  their  critical  moments  of  decision  unas-. 
sailed  by  alternative  suggestions  due  to  fear.  Sergius 
heard  them  now.  "  Return  to  thy  cell,  and  to  thy 
beads,  and  prayer,"  they  seemed  to  say.  "What 
canst  thou,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  if  once  the 
Academy  of  which  thou  wert  this  morning  informed, 
becomes  thy  enemy  ?  Ay,  return  to  thy  cell !  Who 
is  she  for  whom  thou  art  putting  thyself  in  the  way 
of  temptation  ?  The  daughter  of  a  booth-keeper  in 
the  bazaar — a  Jew,  who  hath  no  princely  blood  to 
spare  a  descendant — a  dog  of  a  Jew,  who  maketh 
profit  by  lending  his  child  to  an  impostor." 

The  suggestion  was  powerful.  In  the  heat  of  the 
debate,  however,  an  almost  forgotten  voice  reached 
him,  reciting  one  of  the  consolations  of  Father 
Hilarion:  "  Temptations  are  for  all  of  us;  nor  shall 
any  man  be  free  of  them.  The  most  we  can  hope  is 
to  be  delivered  from  them.  What  vanity  to  think 
we  can  travel  threescore  and  ten  years  from  our 
cradles,  if  so  long  we  live,  without  an  overture  of 
some  kind  from  the  common  enemy !  On  the  other 
side,  what  a  triumph  to  put  his  blandishments  by! 
The  Great  Exemplar  did  not  fly  from  Satan;  he 
stayed,  and  overcame  him." 

"Be  not  afraid,"  Sergius  said,  as  if  to  Lael,  and 
firmly,  like  one  resolved  of  fear  and  hesitation.  "I 
will  be  there  also." 

Then  looking  about  him,  at  his  left  hand  he  beheld 
the  village  of  Emirghian,  bent  round  a  mountain's 


485 

base,  in  places  actually  invading  the  water.  In  face 
of  such  a  view  a  susceptible  nature  must  needs  be  very 
sick  of  soul  to  go  blindly  on.  The  brightly  painted 
houses  cast  tremulous  reflections  to  a  vast  depth  in  the 
limpid  flood,  and  where  they  ceased,  down  immeas- 
urably, the  vivid  green  of  the  verdure  on  the  moun- 
tain's breast  suggested  the  beginning  of  the  next  of 
the  seven  Mohammedan  earths.  Above  this  bor- 
rowed glory  he  seemed  afloat ;  and  to  help  the  impres- 
sion, the  sound  of  many  voices  singing  joyously  was 
borne  to  him.  He  waved  his  hand,  and  the  rowers, 
resting  from  their  labor,  joined  him  in  listening. 

The  little  gulf  of  Stenia  lies  there  landlocked,  and 
out  of  it  a  boat  appeared,  skimming  around  the  inter- 
vening promontory.  In  a  mass  of  flowers,  in  a  shade 
of  garlands  hanging  from  a  low  mast,  its  arms  and 
shrouds  wreathed  with  roses,  the  singers  sat  timing 
their  song  with  their  oars.  The  refrain  was  support- 
ed by  zitheras,  flutes  and  horns.  The  vessel  turned 
northwardly  when  fairly  out  in  the  strait ;  and  then 
another  boat  came  round  the  point — and  another — 
and  another — and  many  others,  all  decorated,  and 
filled  with  men,  women  and  children  making  music. 

Sergius'  boatmen  recognized  the  craft,  deep  in  the 
water,  black  and  long,  and  with  graceful  upturned 
ends. 

"  Fishermen !  "  they  said. 

And  he  rejoined :  "  Yes.  The  Princess  Irene  gives 
them  a  fete.  Make  haste.  I  will  go  with  them.  Fall 
in  behind." 

"Yes,  yes — a  good  woman!  Of  such  are  the 
Saints ! "  they  said,  signing  the  cross  on  breast  and 
brow. 

The  singing  and  the  gala  air  of  the  party  put  Ser- 
gius in  his  wonted  spirits;  and  as  here  and  there 


486 

other  boats  fell  into  the  line,  similarly  decorated, 
their  occupants  adding  to  the  volume  of  the  singing, 
by  the  time  Therapia  was  sighted  the  good-natured, 
happy  fishermen  had  given  him  of  their  floral  abun- 
dance, and  adopted  him. 

What  a  scene  the  Therapian  bay  presented !  Boats, 
boats,  boats — hundreds  of  them  in  motion,  hundreds 
lining  the  shore,  the  water  faithfully  repeating  every 
detail  of  ornature,  and  apparently  a-quiver  with 
pleasure.  The  town  was  gay  with  colors ;  while  on 
the  summit  and  sides  of  the  opposite  promontory 
every  available  point  answered  flaunt  with  flaunt. 
And  there  were  song  and  shouting,  gladsome  cries 
of  children,  responses  of  mothers,  and  merriment  of 
youth  and  maiden.  Byzantium  might  be  in  deca- 
dence, her  provinces  falling  away,  her  glory  wasting ; 
the  follies  of  the  court  and  emperors,  the  best  man- 
hood of  the  empire  lost  in  cloisters  and  hermitages, 
the  preference  of  the  nobility  for  intrigue  and  diplo- 
macy might  be  all  working  their  deplorable  results — 
nay,  the  results  might  be  at  hand !  Still  the  passion 
of  the  people  for  fetes  and  holidays  remained.  Tastes 
are  things  of  heredity.  In  nothing  is  a  Byzantine 
of  this  day  so  nearly  a  classic  Greek  as  in  his  delicacy 
and  appreciation  where  permitted  to  indulge  in  the 
beautiful. 

The  boatmen  passed  through  the  gay  entangle- 
ment of  the  bay  slowly  and  skilfully,  and  finally 
discharged  their  passenger  on  the  marble  quay  a 
little  below  the  regular  landing  in  front  of  the  red 
pavilion  over  the  entrance  to  the  Princess'  grounds. 
The  people  went  in  and  out  of  the  gate  without  hin- 
drance; nor  was  there  guard  or  policeman  visible. 
Their  amiability  attested  their  happiness. 

The  men  were  mostly  black-bearded,  sunburned, 


487 

large-handed,  brawny  fellows  in  breeches  black  and 
amply  bagged,  with  red  sashes  and  light  blue  jackets 
heavily  embroidered.  The  legs  below  the  knees  were 
exposed,  and  the  feet  in  sandals.  White  cloths 
covered  their  heads.  Their  eyes  were  bright,  their 
movements  agile,  their  air  animated.  Many  of  them 
sported  amulets  of  shell  or  silver  suspended  by  rib- 
bons or  silken  cords  around  their  bare  necks.  The 
women  wore  little  veils  secured  by  combs,  but  rather 
as  a  headdress,  and  for  appearances.  They  also 
affected  the  sleeveless  short  jacket  over  a  snowy 
chemise ;  and  what  with  bright  skirts  bordered  with 
worsted  chenille,  and  sandal  straps  carried  artfully 
above  the  ankles,  they  were  not  wanting  in  pictur- 
esqueness.  Some  of  the  very  young  amongst  them 
justified  the  loveliness  traditionally  ascribed  to  the 
nymphs  of  Hellas  and  the  fair  Cycladean  Isles. 
Much  the  greater  number,  however,  were  in  out- 
ward seeming  prematurely  old,  and  by  their  looks, 
their  voices  ungovernably  shrill,  and  the  haste  and 
energy  with  which  they  flung  themselves  into  the 
amusement  of  the  hour  unconsciously  affirmed  that 
fishermen's  wives  are  the  same  everywhere.  One 
need  not  go  far  to  find  the  frontiers  of  society — too 
frequently  they  are  close  under  the  favorite  balcony 
of  the  king. 

Something  on  the  right  cheek  of  the  gate  under 
the  pavilion  furnished  an  attraction  to  the  visitors. 
When  Sergius  came  up,  he  was  detained  by  a  press 
of  men  and  women  in  eager  discussion ;  and  follow- 
ing their  eyes  and  the  pointing  of  their  fingers,  he 
observed  a  brazen  plate  overhead  curiously  inscribed. 
The  writing  was  unintelligible  to  him  as  to  his  neigh- 
bors. It  looked  Turkish — or  it  might  have  been 
Arabic — or  it  might  not  have  been  writing  at  all. 


488 

He  stayed  awhile  listening  to  the  conjectures  ad- 
vanced. Presently  a  gypsy  approached  leading  a 
bear,  which,  in  its  turn,  was  drawing  a  lot  of  noisy 
boys.  He  stopped,  careless  of  the  unfriendly  glances 
with  which  he  was  received,  and  at  sight  of  the  plate 
saluted  it  with  a  low  salaam  several  times  unctuously 
repeated. 

"  Look  at  the  hamari  there.  He  can  tell  what  the 
thing  means." 

"Then  ask  him." 

"I  will.  See  here,  thou  without  a  religion,  con- 
sort of  brutes !  Canst  thou  tell  what  this  " —  point- 
ing to  the  plate — "  is  for  ?  Come  and  look  at  it !  " 

"  It  is  not  needful  for  me  to  go  nearer.  I  see  it 
well  enough.  Neither  am  I  without  a  religion.  I 
do  not  merely  profess  belief  in  God — I  believe  in 
Him,"  the  bear-keeper  replied. 

The  fisherman  took  the  retort  and  the  laugh  it 
occasioned  good-humoredly,  and  answered:  "Very 
well,  we  are  even ;  and  now  perhaps  thou  canst  tell 
me  what  I  asked." 

"Willingly,  since  thou  canst  be  decent  to  a 
stranger.  .  .  .  The  young  Mahommed,  son  of 
Amurath,  Sultan  of  Sultans  " — the  gypsy  paused  to 
salute  the  title — "the  young  Mahommed,  I  say,  is 
my  friend."  The  bystanders  laughed  derisively,  but 
the  man  proceeded.  "  He  has  resided  this  long  time 
at  Magnesia,  tbe  capital  of  a  prosperous  province 
assigned  to  his  governorship.  There  never  was  one 
of  such  station  so  civil  to  his  people,  and  much 
learning  has  had  a  good  effect  upon  his  judgment; 
it  has  taught  him  that  the  real  virtue  of  amusement 
lies  in  its  variety.  Did  he  listen  exclusively  to  his 
doctors  discoursing  of  philosophy,  or  to  his  professor 
of  mathematics,  or  to  his  poets  and  historians,  he 


489 

would  go  mad  even  as  they  are  mad;  wherefore, 
along  with  his  studies,  he  hunts  with  hawk  and 
hound ;  he  tilts  and  tourneys ;  he  plays  the  wander 
ing  minstrel;  and  not  seldom  Joqard  and  I — hey, 
fellow,  is  it  not  so  ? "  he  gave  the  bear  a  tremendous 
jerk — "Joqard  and  I  have  been  to  audience  with 
him  in  his  palace." 

"  A  wonderful  prince  no  doubt;  but  I  asked  not  of 
him.  The  plate,  man — what  of  this  plate  ?  If  noth- 
ing, then  give  way  to  Joqard." 

"  There  are  fools  and  fools — that  is,  there  are  plain 
fools  and  wise  fools.  The  wise  fool  answering  the 
plain  fool,  is  always  more  particular  with  his  prem- 
ises than  his  argument." 

The  laugh  was  with  the  hamari  again ;  after  which, 
he  continued :  ' '  So,  having  done  with  explanation, 
now  to  satisfy  you." 

From  the  breast  of  his  gown,  he  brought  forth  a 
piece  of  bronze  considerably  less  than  the  plate  on 
the  gate,  but  in  every  other  respect  its  counterpart. 

"See  you  this  ? "  he  said,  holding  the  bronze  up  to 
view. 

There  was  quick  turning  from  plate  to  plate,  and 
the  conclusion  was  as  quick. 

' '  They  are  the  same,  but  what  of  it  ? " 

"  This — Joqard  and  I  went  up  one  day  and  danced 
for  the  Prince,  and  at  the  end  he  dismissed  us,  giving 
me  a  red  silk  purse  fat  with  gold  pieces,  and  to  Jo- 
qard this  passport.  Mark  you  now.  The  evil  minded 
used  to  beat  us  with  cudgels  and  stones — I  mean 
among  the  Turks — but  coming  to  a  town  now,  I  tie 
this  to  Joqard's  collar,  and  we  have  welcome.  We 
eat  and  drink,  and  are  given  good  quarters,  and 
sped  from  morning  to  morning  without  charge." 

"There  is  some  magic  in  the  plate,  then  I" 


490 

"No,"  said  the  hamari,  "  unless  there  is  magic  in 
the  love  of  a  people  for  the  Prince  to  be  their  ruler. 
It  certifies  Joqard  and  I  are  of  Prince  Mahommed's 
friends,  and  that  is  enough  for  Turks ;  and  the  same 
yonder.  By  the  sign,  I  know  this  gate,  these  grounds, 
and  the  owner  of  them  are  in  his  protection.  But," 
said  the  hear-keeper,  changing  his  tone,  "  seeing  one 
civil  answer  deserves  another,  when  was  Prince  Ma- 
hommed  here  ? " 

"  In  person  ?    Never." 

"  Oh,  he  must  have  been." 

"  Why  do  you  say  so  ? " 

"  Because  of  the  brass  plate  yonder." 

"  What  does  it  prove  ?'" 

"  Ah,  yes! "  the  man  answered  laughingly.  "Jo- 
qard and  I  pick  up  many  odd  things,  and  meet  a  world 
of  people — don't  we,  fellow  ? "  Another  furious  jerk 
of  the  leading  strap  brought  a  whine  from  the  bear. 
"  But  it  is  good  for  us.  We  teach  school  as  we  go; 
and  you  know,  my  friend,  for  every  solidus  its  equiv- 
alent in  noumiae  is  somewhere." 

"  I  will  give  you  a  noumia,  if  you  will  give  me  an 
answer." 

"  A  bargain — a  bargain,  with  witnesses! " 

Then  after  a  glance  into  the  faces  around,  as  if 
summoning  attention  to  the  offer,  the  hamari  pro- 
ceeded. 

"  Listen.  I  say  the  brass  up  there  proves  Prince 
Mahommed  was  here  in  person.  Wishing  to  notify 
his  people  that  he  had  taken  in  his  care  everything 
belonging  to  this  property,  the  owner  included,  the 
Prince  put  his  signature  to  the  proclamation." 

"Proclamation?" 

"Yes — you  may  call  it  plain  brass,  if  you  prefer; 
none  the  less  the  writing  on  it  is  Mahommed :  and 


because  such  favors  must  bear  his  name  on  them, 
they  are  reserved  for  his  giving.  No  other  man, 
except  the  great  Sultan,  his  father,  would  bestow  one 
of  them.  Joqard  had  his  from  the  Prince's  hand  di- 
rectly ;  wherefore — I  hope,  friend,  you  have  the  nou- 
mia  ready — the  brass  on  this  post  must  have  been 
fixed  there  by  the  Prince  with  his  own  hand." 

The  fishermen  were  satisfied;  and  it  was  wonder- 
ful how  interesting  the  safeguard  then  became  to 
them.  By  report  they  knew  Mahommed  the  pro- 
spective successor  of  the  terrible  Amurath;  they 
knew  him  a  soldier  conspicuous  in  many  battles ;  and 
from  the  familiar  principle  by  which  we  admire  or 
dread  those  possessed  of  qualities  unlike  and  superior 
to  our  own,  their  ideas  and  speculations  concern- 
ing him  were  wild  and  generally  harsh.  Making 
no  doubt  now  that  he  had  really  been  to  the  gate, 
they  asked  themselves,  What  could  have  been  his 
object  ?  To  look  at  the  plate  was  next  thing  to  look- 
ing at  the  man.  Even  Sergius  partook  of  the  feeling. 
To  get  a  better  view,  he  shifted  his  position,  and  was 
beset  by  inquietudes  not  in  the  understanding  of  the 
fishermen. 

The  Princess  Irene,  her  property  and  dependents, 
were  subjects  of  protection  by  the  Moslem  ;  that 
much  was  clear;  but  did  she  know  the  fact  ?  Had 
she  seen  the  Prince  ?  Then  the  Hegumen's  criticism 
upon  the  persistence  with  which  she  kept  her  resi- 
dence here,  a  temptation  to  the  brutalized  unbeliever 
on  the  other  shore,  derived  a  point  altogether  new. 

Sergius  turned  away,  and  passed  into  the  well- 
tended  grounds.  While  too  loyal  to  the  little  mother, 
as  he  tenderly  called  the  Princess,  to  admit  a  sus- 
picion against  her,  with  painful  clearness,  he  per- 
ceived the  opportunity  the  affair  offered  her  enemies 


492 

for  the  most  extreme  accusations ;  and  he  resolved 
to  speak  to  her,  and,  if  necessary,  to  remonstrate. 

Traversing  the  shelled  roadway  up  to  the  portico 
of  the  palace,  he  looked  back  through  the  red  pavil- 
ion, and  caught  a  glimpse  of  Joqard  performing 
before  a  merry  group  of  boys  and  elders  male  and 
female. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   HAMABI 

THE  love  of  all  things  living  which  was  so  posi- 
tively a  trait  of  character  with  the  Princess  Irene 
was  never  stinted  in  her  dealings  with  her  own 
country  folk.  On  this  occasion  her  whole  establish- 
ment at  Therapia  was  accorded  her  guests  ;  yet, 
while  they  wandered  at  will  merry-making  through 
the  gardens,  and  flashed  their  gay  colors  along  the 
side  and  from  the  summit  of  the  promontory,  they 
seemed  to  have  united  in  holding  the  palace  in  re- 
spectful reserve.  None  of  them,  without  a  special 
request,  presumed  to  pass  the  first  of  the  steps  lead- 
ing up  into  the  building. 

When  Sergius,  approaching  from  the  outer  gate, 
drew  nigh  the  front  of  the  palace,  he  was  brought  to 
a  stop  by  a  throng  of  men  and  women  packed  around 
a  platform  the  purpose  of  which  was  declared  by  its 
use.  It  was  low,  but  of  generous  length  and  breadth, 
and  covered  with  fresh  sail-cloth ;  at  each  corner  a 
mast  had  been  raised,  with  yard-arms  well  squared, 
and  dressed  profusely  in  roses,  ferns,  and  acacia 
fronds.  On  a  gallery  swung  to  the  base  of  the  over- 
pending  portico,  a  troupe  of  musicians  were  making 
the  most  of  flute,  cithara,  horn,  and  kettle-drum,  and 
not  vainly,  to  judge  from  the  flying  feet  of  the  dan- 
cers in  possession  of  the  boards. 

Lifting  his  eyes  above  the  joyous  exhibition,  he 


494 

beheld  the  carven  capitals  of  the  columns,  tied  to- 
gether with  festoonery  of  evergreens,  and  relieved  by 
garlands  of  shining  flowers,  and  above  the  musi- 
cians, under  a  canopy  shading  her  from  the  merid- 
ian sun,  the  Princess  Irene  herself.  A  bright  carpet 
hanging  down  the  wall  enriched  the  position  chosen 
by  her,  and  in  the  pleasant  shade,  surrounded  by 
young  women,  she  sat  with  uncovered  head  and 
face,  delighted  with  the  music  and  the  dancing — de- 
lighted that  it  was  in  her  power  to  bring  together  so 
many  souls  to  forget,  though  so  briefly,  the  fretting 
of  hard  conditions  daily  harder  growing.  None 
knew  better  than  she  the  rapidity  of  the  national 
decadence. 

It  was  not  long  until  the  young  hostess  noticed 
Sergius,  taller  of  his  high  hat  and  long  black  gown ; 
and  careless  as  usual  of  the  conventionalities,  she 
arose,  and  beckoned  to  him  with  her  fan;  and  the 
people,  seeing  whom  she  thus  honored,  opened  right 
and  left,  and  with  good-will  made  way  for  him. 
Upon  his  coming  her  attendants  drew  aside — all  but 
one,  to  whom  for  the  moment  he  gave  but  a  passing- 
look. 

The  Princess  received  him  seated.  The  youthful 
loveliness  of  her  countenance  seemed  refined  by  the 
happiness  she  was  deriving  from  the  spectacle  before 
her.  He  took  the  hand  she  extended  him,  kissed  it 
respectfully,  with  only  a  glance  at  the  simple  but 
perfected  Greek  of  her  costume,  and  immediately 
the  doubts,  and  fears,  and  questions,  and  lectures  in 
sutline  he  had  brought  with  him  from  the  city 
dropped  out  of  mind.  Suspicion  could  not  look  at 
her  and  live. 

"Welcome,  Sergius,"  she  said,  with  dignity.  "I 
•vras  afraid  you  would  not  come  to-day." 


"  Why  not  ?  If  my  little  mother's  lightest  sugges« 
tions  are  laws  with  me,  what  are  her  invitations  ?" 

For  the  first  time  he  had  addressed  her  by  the 
affectionate  term,  and  the  sound  was  startling.  The 
faintest  flush  spread  over  her  cheek,  admonishing 
him  that  the  familiarity  had  not  escaped  atten- 
tion. Greatly  to  his  relief,  she  quietly  passed  the 
matter. 

"You  were  at  the  Pannychides  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,  till  daybreak." 

"I  thought  so,  and  concluded  you  would  be  too 
weary  to  see  us  to-day.  The  Mystery  is  tedious." 

"  It  might  become  so  if  too  frequently  celebrated. 
As  it  was,  I  shall  not  forget  the  hillside,  and  the 
multitude  of  f rocked  and  cowled  figures  kneeling 
in  the  dim  red  light  of  the  torches.  The  scene  was 
awful." 

"  Did  you  see  the  Emperor  ?  " 

She  put  the  question  in  a  low  tone. 

"No,"  he  returned.  "His  Majesty  sent  for  our 
Hegumen  to  come  to  the  Chapel.  The  good  man 
took  me  with  him,  his  book  and  torch  bearer;  but 
when  we  arrived,  the  Emperor  had  passed  in  and 
closed  the  door,  and  I  could  only  imagine  him  on 
his  knees  alone  in  the  room,  except  as  the  relics 
about  him  were  company." 

"How  unspeakably  dismal!"  she  said  with  a 
shudder,  adding  in  sorrowful  reflection,  "I  wish  I 
could  help  him,  for  he  is  a  prince  with  a  tender  con- 
science ;  but  there  is  no  way — at  least  Heaven  does 
not  permit  me  to  see  anything  for  him  in  my  gift 
but  prayer." 

Sergius  followed  her  sympathetically,  and  was  sur- 
prised when  she  continued,  the  violet  gray  of  her 
eyes  changing  into  subtle  fire.  "A  sky  all  cloud; 


496 

the  air  void  of  hope ;  enemies  mustering  everywhere 
on  land;  the  city,  the  court,  the  Church  rent  by 
contending  factions — behold  how  a  Christian  king, 
the  first  one  in  generations,  is  plagued!  Ah,  who 
can  interpret  for  Providence  ?  And  what  a  miracle 
is  prophecy ! " 

Thereupon  the  Princess  bethought  herself,  and  cast 
a  hurried  glance  out  over  the  garden. 

"  No,  no !  If  these  poor  souls  can  forget  their  con- 
dition and  be  happy,  why  not  we?  Tell  me  good 
news,  Sergius,  if  you  have  any — only  the  good.  But 
see!  Who  is  he  making  way  through  the  throng 
yonder  ?  And  what  is  it  he  is  leading  ?  " 

The  transition  of  feeling,  though  sudden  and  some- 
what forced,  was  successful;  the  Princess'  counte- 
nance again  brightened ;  and  turning  to  follow  her 
direction,  Sergius  observed  Lael,  who  had  not  fallen 
back  with  the  other  attendants.  The  girl  had  been 
a  modest  listener;  now  there  was  a  timid  balf  smile 
on  her  face,  and  a  glistening  welcome  in  her  eyes. 
His  gaze  stopped  short  of  the  object  which  had  in- 
spired his  hostess  with  such  interest,  and  dropped  to 
the  figured  carpet  at  the  guest's  feet ;  for  the  feeling 
the  recognition  awakened  was  clouded  with  the  taunt 
Demedes  had  flung  at  him  in  the  hall  of  the  monas- 
tery, and  he  questioned  the  rightf  ulness  of  this  ap- 
pearance. If  she  were  not  the  daughter  of  the  Prince 
of  India,  she  was  an — impostor  was  the  word  in  his 
mind. 

"  I  was  expecting  you,"  she  said  to  him,  artlessly. 

Sergius  raised  his  face,  and  was  about  to  speak, 
when  the  Princess  started  from  her  seat,  and  moved 
to  the  low  balustrade  of  the  portico. 

"  Come,"  she  called,  "  come,  and  tell  me  what  this 
is." 


407 

Sergius  left  a  friendly  glance  with  Lael. 

Where  the  roadway  from  the  gate  led  up  to  the 
platform  an  opening  had  been  made  in  the  close  wall 
of  spectators  attracted  by  the  music  and  dancing.  In 
the  opening,  the  hamari  was  slowly  coming  for- 
ward, his  turban  awry,  his  brown  face  overrun  and 
shining  with  perspiration,  his  sharp  gypsy  eyes  full 
of  merriment.  With  the  leading  strap  over  a  shoul- 
der, he  tugged  at  Joqard.  Sergius  laughed  to  see 
the  surprise  of  the  men  and  women,  and  at  the 
peculiar  yells  and  screams  with  which  they  strug- 
gled to  escape.  But  everybody  appearing  in  good 
nature,  he  said  to  the  Princess:  "Do  not  be  con- 
cerned. A  Turk  or  Persian  with  a  trained  bear.  I 
passed  him  at  the  gate." 

He  saw  the  opportunity  of  speaking  about  the  brass 
plate  on  the  post,  and  while  debating  whether  to 
avail  himself  of  it,  the  hamari  caught  sight  of  the 
party  at  the  edge  of  the  portico,  stopped,  surveyed 
them,  then  prostrated  himself  in  the  abjectest  Eastern 
manner.  The  homage  was  of  course  to  the  Princess 
— so  at  least  the  assemblage  concluded ;  and  jumping 
to  the  idea  that  the  bear-keeper  had  been  employed 
by  her  for  their  divertisement,  each  man  in  the  com- 
pany resolved  himself  into  an  ally  and  proceeded  to 
assist  him.  The  musicians  were  induced  to  suspend 
their  performance,  and  the  dancers  to  vacate  the 
platform ;  then,  any  number  of  hands  helping  them 
up,  Joqard  and  his  master  were  promoted  to  the 
boards,  sole  claimants  of  attention  and  favor. 

The  fellow  was  not  in  the  least  embarrassed.  He 
took  position  on  the  platform  in  front  of  the  Princess, 
and  again  saluted  her  Orientally,  and  with  the  great- 
est deliberation,  omitting  no  point  of  the  prostration. 
Bringing  the  bear  to  a  sitting  posture  with  folded 


496 

paws,  he  bowed  right  and  left  to  the  spectators,  and 
made  a  speech  in  laudation  of  Joqard.  His  grimaces 
and  gesticulation  kept  the  crowd  in  a  roar;  when 
addressing  the  Princess,  his  manner  was  respectful, 
even  courtierly.  Joqard  and  he  had  travelled  the 
world  over;  they  had  been  through  the  Far  East, 
and  through  the  lands  of  the  Frank  and  Gaul ;  they 
had  crossed  Europe  from  Paris  to  the  Black  Sea,  and 
up  to  the  Crimea ;  they  had  appeared  before  the  great 
everywhere — Indian  Rajahs,  Tartar  Khans,  Persian 
Shahs,  Turkish  Sultans ;  there  was  no  language  they 
did  not  understand.  The  bear,  he  insisted,  was  the 
wisest  of  animals,  the  most  susceptible  of  education, 
the  most  capable  and  willing  in  service.  This  the 
ancients  understood  better  than  the  moderns,  for  in 
recognition  of  his  superiority  they  had  twice  exalted 
him  to  the  Heavens,  and  in  both  instances  near  the 
star  that  knew  no  deviation.  The  hamari  was  a 
master  of  amplification,  and  his  anecdotes  never 
failed  their  purpose. 

"Now,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  care  what  the  subject  of 
discourse  may  be ;  one  thing  is  true — my  audience  is 
always  composed  of  believers  and  unbelievers ;  and 
as  between  them  " — here  he  addressed  himself  to  the 
Princess — "as  between  them,  O  Most  Illustrious  of 
women,  my  difficulty  has  been  to  determine  which 
class  is  most  to  be  feared.  Every  philosopher  must 
admit  there  is  quite  as  much  danger  in  the  man  who 
withholds  his  faith  when  it  ought  to  be  given,  as  in  his 
opposite  who  hurries  to  yield  it  without  reason.  My 
rule  as  an  auditor  is  to  wait  for  demonstration.  So  " 
— turning  to  the  assemblage — "if  here  any  man  or 
woman  doubts  that  the  bear  is  the  wisest  of  animals, 
and  Joqard  the  most  learned  and  accomplished  of 
bears,  I  will  prove  it. " 


490 

Then  Joqard  was  called  on. 

"For  attend,  O  Illustrious  Princess! — and  look 
ye,  O  men  and  women,  pliers  of  net  and  boat! — 
look  ye  all!  Now  shall  Joqard  himself  speak  for 
Joqard." 

The  hamari  began  talking  to  the  bear  in  a  jargon 
utterly  unintelligible  to  his  hearers,  though  they  fell 
to  listening  with  might  and  main,  and  were  silent 
that  they  might  hear.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  earnest  than  his  communications,  whatever 
they  were ;  at  times  he  put  an  arm  about  the  brute's 
neck;  at  times  he  whispered  in  its  ear;  and  in  re- 
turn it  bowed  and  grunted  assent,  or  growled  and 
shook  its  head  in  refusal,  always  in  the  most  know- 
ing manner.  In  this  style,  to  appearance,  he  was 
telling  what  he  wanted  done.  Then  retaining  the 
leading  strap,  the  master  stepped  aside,  and  Joqard, 
left  to  himself,  proceeded  to  prove  his  intelligence 
and  training  by  facing  the  palace,  bringing  his  arms 
overhead,  and  falling  forward.  Everybody  under- 
stood the  honor  intended  for  the  Princess;  the  by- 
standers shouted;  the  attendants  on  the  portico 
clapped  their  hands,  for  indeed  never  in  their  re- 
membrance had  the  prostration  been  more  pro- 
foundly executed.  Arising  nimbly  the  performer 
wheeled  about,  reared  on  his  hind  feet,  clasped  his 
paws  on  his  head,  and  acknowledged  the  favor  of 
the  commonalty  by  resolving  himself  into  a  great 
fur  ball,  and  rolling  a  somersault.  The  acclama- 
tion became  tumultuous.  One  admirer  ran  off  and 
returned  with  an  armful  of  wreaths  and  garlands, 
and  presently  Joqard  was  wearing  them  royally. 

With  excellent  judgment  the  hamari  proceeded 
next  to  hurry  the  exhibition,  passing  from  one  trick 
to  another  almost  without  pause  until  the  wrestling 


500 

match  was  reached.  This  has  been  immemorially 
the  reliable  point  in  performances  of  the  kind  he 
was  giving,  but  he  introduced  it  in  a  manner  of  his 
own. 

Standing  by  the  edge  of  the  platform,  as  the  friend 
and  herald  of  Joqard,  he  first  loudly  challenged  the 
men  before  him,  every  one  ambitious  of  honor  and 
renown,  to  come  up  and  try  a  fall ;  and  upon  their 
hanging  back,  he  berated  them.  Wherever  a  tall 
man  stood  observable  above  the  level  of  heads,  he 
singled  him  out.  Failing  to  secure  a  champion,  he 
finally  undertook  the  contest  himself. 

"Ho,  Joqard,"  he  cried,  while  tying  the  leading 
strap  around  the  brute's  neck,  ' '  thou  f  earest  nothing. 
Thy  dam  up  in  the  old  Caucasian  cave  was  great  of 
heart,  and,  like  her,  thou  wouldst  not  quail  before 
Hercules,  were  he  living.  But  thou  shalt  not  lick 
thy  paws  and  laugh,  thinking  Hercules  hath  no  de- 
scendant." 

Retiring  a  few  steps  he  tightened  the  belt  about 
his  waist,  and  drew  his  leathern  jacket  closer. 

"Get  ready!"  he  cried. 

Joqard  answered  promptly  and  intelligently  by 
standing  up  and  facing  him,  and  in  sign  of  satis- 
faction with  the  prospect  of  an  encounter  so  to  his 
taste,  he  lolled  the  long  red  tongue  out  of  his  jaws. 
Was  he  licking  his  chops  in  anticipation  of  a  feast 
or  merely  laughing?  The  beholders  became  quiet; 
and  Sergius  for  the  first  time  observed  how  very  low 
in  stature  the  hamari  seemed. 

"  Look  out,  look  out!  O  thou  with  the  north  star 
in  the  tip  of  thy  tail !  I  am  coming — for  the  honor 
of  mankind,  I  am  coming." 

They  danced  around  each  other  watching  for  an 
opening. 


M 

"Aha!  Now  thou  thinkest  to  get  the  advantage. 
Thou  art  proud  of  thy  fame,  and  cunning,  but  I 
am  a  man.  I  have  been  in  many  schools.  Look 
out!" 

The  hamari  leaped  in  and  with  both  hands  caught 
the  strap  looped  around  Joqard's  neck ;  at  the  same 
time  he  was  himself  caught  in  Joqard's  ready  arms. 
The  growl  with  which  the  latter  received  the  attack 
was  angry,  and  lent  the  struggle  much  more  than 
a  mere  semblance  of  danger.  Round  and  about 
they  were  borne;  now  forward,  then  back;  some- 
times they  were  likely  to  tumble  from  the  boards. 
The  hamari's  effort  was  to  choke  Joqard  into  submis- 
sion ;  Joqard's  was  to  squeeze  the  breath  out  of  the 
hamari's  body ;  and  they  both  did  their  parts  well. 

After  some  minutes  the  man's  exertions  became 
intermittent.  A  little  further  on  the  certainty  of 
triumph  inspired  Joqard  to  fierce  utterances;  his 
growls  were  really  terrible,  and  he  hugged  so  merci- 
lessly his  opponent  grew  livid  in  the  face.  The 
women  and  children  began  to  cry  and  scream, 
and  many  of  the  men  shouted  in  genuine  alarm: 
"See,  see!  The  poor  fellow  is  choking  to  death!" 
The  excitement  and  fear  extended  to  the  portico; 
some  of  the  attendants  there,  unable  to  endure  the 
sight,  fled  from  it.  Lael  implored  Sergius  to  save 
the  hamari.  Even  the  Princess  was  undecided 
whether  the  acting  was  real  or  affected. 

Finally  the  crisis  came.  The  man  could  hold  out 
no  longer ;  he  let  go  his  grip  on  the  strap,  and,  strug- 
gling feebly  to  loose  his  body  from  the  great  black 
arms,  shouted  hoarsely:  "Help,  help!"  As  if  he 
had  not  strength  to  continue  the  cry,  he  threw  his 
hands  up,  and  his  head  back  gasping. 

The  Princess  Irene  covered    her  eyes.     Sergius 


502 

stepped  over  the  balustrade ;  but  before  he  could  get 
further,  a  number  of  men  were  on  the  stage  making 
to  the  rescue.  And  seeing  them  come,  the  hamari 
laid  one  hand  on  the  strap,  and  with  the  other 
caught  the  tongue  protruding  from  Joqard's  open 
jaws ;  as  a  further  point  in  the  offensive  so  suddenly 
resumed,  he  planted  a  foot  heavily  on  one  of  his  an- 
tagonist's. Immediately  the  son  of  the  proud  Cau- 
casian dam  was  flat  on  the  boards  simulating  death. 

Then  everybody  understood  the  play,  and  the  mer- 
riment was  heightened  by  the  speech  the  hamari 
found  opportunity  to  make  his  rescuers  before  they 
could  recover  from  their  astonishment  and  break  up 
the  tableau  they  formed.  The  Princess,  laughing 
through  her  tears,  flung  the  victor  some  gold  pieces, 
and  Lael  tossed  her  fan  to  him.  The  prostrations 
with  which  he  acknowledged  the  favors  were  mar- 
vels to  behold. 

By  and  by,  quiet  being  restored,  Joqard  was  roused 
from  his  trance,  and  the  hamari,  calling  the  musi- 
cians to  strike  up,  concluded  the  performance  with  a 
dance. 


